380 Bird - Lore 



number of set exercises. It is for this reason that the editor wishes to emphasize 

 once more the feeding of the winter birds, for it provides an opportunity for 

 each child to do something by himself that is almost certain to draw a response 

 from the birds, and this is the surest method of fixing his interest. There 

 never was a boy so 'bad' that he would stone or shoot the birds that come to 

 the feeding-station which he has made with his own hands. Rather will he be 

 proud to protect them from all other boys, and with this feeling in his heart, 

 it is only a step to his protection of all birds. 



Many teachers have told me that they would like to attract the winter 

 birds, but owing to the situation of their schools in crowded cities or unfavorable 

 districts, they felt sure that they would have no success. My answer is that 

 there is not a school in the world, or a home, that birds will not find when food 

 is put out for them. Of course, the schools in the larger cities should not expect 

 the great variety of birds that the rural schools enjoy, but even though nothing 

 but House Sparrows and Pigeons put in an appearance, the same lessons can 

 be taught, the same pleasure derived. In such places one studies the individual 

 birds rather than the different species and by careful observation learns to 

 recognize each Sparrow and each Pigeon by little differences of plumage or 

 slight differences of manner. The children can give names to the different 

 individuals if they wish, for by so doing they will sharpen their observation. 



It may seem strange to advise attracting the House Sparrows in one breath 

 and to recommend an 'anti-Sparrow' shelf in the next, but it is quite possible 

 to teach children the greater value of our native birds without destroying their 

 reverence for life, even the life of a House Sparrow. If it is impossible to attract 

 native birds because of the large flocks of House Sparrows that annoy them and 

 drive them from the feed, it is better to teach the children to outwit the 

 Sparrows than to destroy them. 



HOW TO ATTRACT BIRDS 



In many places where the birds have been fed for years and have learned to 

 hunt about windows and doorsteps, they find food wherever it is put out for 

 them in a very short time. In other places where winter feeding has not been 

 practised, the birds have to be taught to come to windows, and it may be 

 some time before they find the food. These directions are intended primarily 

 for teachers who live where winter feeding has not become the custom that it 

 has in localities where there is much local interest in birds. 



WHAT FOOD TO USE 



To begin with, the birds which ordinarily come to feeding stations fall into 

 two groups : those that feed normally upon insects and those that feed normally 

 upon seeds. The insectivorous birds include the Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, 

 Chickadees, Kinglets, Creepers, and Jays. These birds, in addition to feeding 



