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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



OUR YOUNG FRIENDS. 



My Dear Young Folks: 



Once upon a time, (when I was a child) I saw in a little magazine a 

 picture of an old man with birds flying all above, some eating from his 

 hand, and some upon his head and shoulders, and the story told how 

 he had tamed the birds by kindness so that they would come at his 

 call. I thought it a charming sight, but classed it with my favorite 

 fairy tales. 



But many dreams of my childhood have come true, and during the 

 past year I have known personally a half dozen people who have so 

 tamed the little feathered folk that they come at their call and eat from 

 the hand. I have in mind one busy man who never goes out without a 

 supply of broken raw peanuts in his pockets with which to regale three 

 or four chickadees that he usually meets as he goes to and from his 

 place of business. 



The chickadees seem to be the most easily tamed — what dear cheery 

 little fellows they are — but time and patience will conquer many 

 others, and it is a much more delightful sport than to hunt them with 

 the gun. Probably there are few of our boys and girls who do not 

 have some birds about their homes, (we always except English Spar- 

 rows). Coax them to be friendly by an abundance of food, and fresh 

 water, protect them from cats, then get them used to seeing you, and 

 knowing that you are harmless, and that your presence always means 

 something good to eat — for the way to a bird's "heart is through his 

 stomach" — and by slow degrees win their confidence, and with patience, 

 patie7ici\ and more patience, by the end of the season you can each one 



