The Making of Birdcraft Sanctuary 



265 



make what is considered to be a birds' paradise. The other, a ten-acre bit of 

 old pasture, where calves and colts had held sway for years. Not many 

 trees had it but those few were great oaks, pepperidge, cedars, maples, 

 and black cherries. The rolling ground had a hill covered with trailing wild 

 berries and a low swale broken by spring holes and hedged with the 

 alders that Song Sparrows love, while the variety of wild fruits told that the 

 birds had therein been making a sanctuary for themselves these many years. 

 Moreover, the land was but a ten minutes' walk from trolley, village, and 

 railway station, and 



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so near my own home 

 that daily supervision 

 would be possible. 



"Buy the ten-acre 

 lot," called the tele- 

 phone, "and make the 

 plan of what you 

 think Birdcraft Sanc- 

 tuary (thus The Donor 

 named it) should be. 

 The birds and their 

 comfort should be the 

 first consideration; it 

 must be a place where 

 they can nest in peace, 

 or rest in their travels. 

 People must be con- 

 sidered only as they 

 fit in with this 

 scheme.^' 



In June, 1914, the 

 legal technicalities 

 having been duly safe- 

 guarded, the property 

 was deeded to the 

 Society, the control 

 being vested in a Board of Governors, chosen in the first place from its 

 Executive Committee, but thereafter to be self-perpetuating. Five members 

 of the Board were women, and four men; these nine being divided for con- 

 venience into three committees — finance, house and grounds, and general 

 conservation. 



The Ust of requirements, considered from both the practical and the 

 ethical sides, read thus: A cat-proof fence to surround the entire place. That 

 it may not look aggressive, it should be set well inside the picturesque old 



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A ROUGH STONE B.\THIXG - POOL AND OBSERVATION 

 SHELTER 



