Feathered Folk Are Worth Knowing 



By Frank Crane 



Do your know your bird neighbors? If not, why not get acquainted? It 

 will repay you, not only in that delight which all knowledge gives, but in a wider 

 sympathy with nature and her wondrous lives, in a cheering acquaintance with 

 the shy brotherhood of winged things, in- a spiritual companionship with the little 

 people of the air, who always symbolize to us hope, optimism and the brighter 

 qualities of existence. 



To take your gun and kill the air neighbors is brutal, stupid — and you ought 

 to be ashamed of it. Take a pair of opera glasses instead and do a little "watch- 

 ful waiting" in a corner of the shrubbery. Learn to know the various uniforms 

 of the aerial companies, the blue, gray, yellow and red ; the various tufts, tails and 

 topknots, that are vastly more interesting than soldiers' regalia on the battlefield 

 or women's hats on the Champs Elysees. 



Speaking of hats, is it not incredible that countless valuable insect eating 

 birds, who are our greatest defense against the worms and bugs that destroy a 

 billion dollars' worth of crops annually in the United States, are destroyed that 

 their feathers may decorate woman's headgear? 



After you come to know your bird friends, take measures to provide for their 

 comfort. Be a bird landlord. Put up houses for them. You will get an amazing 

 rental in the spectacle of happy lives, not in money, but in cheeps and chirrups, 

 glimpses of fluttering wings through the sunny air, and a knowledge that in many 

 a cozy nest are little beings which, were it not for your charity, might be devoured 

 by ferocious cats or frozen stitY or dead with hunger by the roadside. 



Martens will live, like human beings, in skyscrapers or apartment houses in 

 miniature. Jenny \\'ren likes seclusion, away from prying neighbors; a single 

 gourd or tomato can may do. and she has been known to bring up her little ones 

 in a sprinkling can or a mail box. The log cabin made from a hollow limb is 

 preferred by the flicker and nuthatch families. Robins and phcebes go in for 

 open sleeping porches and bluebirds like roof gardens, whence they can easily fly 

 out and in. 



"Turn the openings of the birdhouses away from the prevailing north 

 winds." says an authority, "and don't forget to sheathe the posts or poles that 

 support them with tin or galvanized iron to prevent cats from climbing up." 



If you want specifications for building birdhouses you can get them free 

 by applying to the United States government at Washington. 



Help the little wanderers that are being destroyed by their natural enemies, 

 the hunters ; though there's nothing said in holy writ about being rewarded 

 for this in heaven, you may be sure that you will get your reward on earth each 

 day by an added interest in life, by the pleasure of protecting "our little sisters, 

 the birds," and at the same time doing real service for human beings. 



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