Shall We Feed the Birds? 



By Manley B. Tovvnsend 



Why not? Well, for the same reason that it is a good plan to keep a cat 

 hungry when we want her to function as a mouser. Birds eat up vermin, just as 

 cats do; why should not the same rule work with them? So a number of authori- 

 ties have recently argued. 



Frequently some one with more zeal than knowledge denounces the winter 

 feeding of the birds as unnecessary and economically unwise. Such an attitude 

 is a good illustration of that line of Pope, "A little learning is a dangerous thing." 

 The latest manifesto on this subject is by a Kansas professor, who declares that 

 feeding the birds has a tendency to diminish their usefulness as destroyers of 

 insect-eggs, pupje. and hibernating adults, as it removes the necessity that is sun- 

 posed to keep the birds hustling. 



It would seem that there might be something in this reasoning, but what are 

 the facts? 



The birds prefer their natural food. Where they can get that in sufficient 

 (juantities they do not care for food that we give them. This is proved con- 

 clusively by the fact that only winter feeding;- ])roves successful. 



When spring comes the birds leave our food, no matter how attractive it may 

 be. Only dire necessity drives them to our feeding-stations. During the winter 

 many birds have difficulty in finding sufficient food. .Search as they may, the 

 natural supply is inadequate. The spark of life bums low, and, alas! too often 

 flicker'; out. With a full stomach a bird can bid defiance to any weather. With 

 fuel under the boiler, sufficient steam is generateil to keep the machinery running. 

 Food placed out for the birds may save many a little life by providing just the 

 necessary additional fuel needed to keep up the steam. The tirst sharp edge of 

 hunger blunted, the bird will jiay for his dinner by searching the trees in the 

 vicinity and destroying all the insects that he can find, for he always prefers his 

 natural food. 



It pa\s, in dollars and cents, to feed the birds. Every orchard should at 

 regular intervals have suet fastened to the trees, as well as bird-bo-xes for nesting- 

 purposes. There is pleasure in watching the feeding birds — their beautiful colors, 

 their graceful movements, their engaging ways, to say nothing of gaining their 

 confidence and perhaps persuading them to light upon us and take food from our 

 hand. There is a joy in such conipanionshij), a deep satisfaction in ministering 

 to a dependent life. On Thanksgiving Day. as I sat down to dinner, I glanced out 

 of the window into the apple-tree. There was a little downv woodpecker at his 

 Thanksgiving dinner of suet (we both had suet-pudding that day), and my heart 

 was the lighter and my Thanksgiving the brighter because I had a tiny feathered 

 guest to enjoy my bounty. Try it for yourself and see if this is not so. 



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