150 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



their material wants are much the same 

 — something to, eat and drink and a 

 shelter and place in which to rear their 

 young — it became our purpose to pro- 

 vide them with these things so far as we 

 could. 



The first thing that we did was to raise 

 a fund for the purchase of bird houses. 

 There are scarcely a hundred and fifty 

 people in our little village of Meriden, 

 exclusive of the Academy, and few of the 

 people are well to do. With a little 

 outside help however, we were able to 

 raise two hundred dollars, for almost 

 everybody contributed something, the 

 contributions ranging from fifteen cents 

 to two dollars — few gave over that. 



The food house that we adopted is an 

 adaptation of the type in\ented by 



The "Audubon" food house used at Meriden. The lower food 

 tray is open and serves as an advertisement for the upper tray under 

 the roof 



Baron Hans von Berlepsch and seems to 

 be so admirably fitted for the purpose for 

 which it is intended that we have given 

 it the official title of "Audubon" food 

 house. The Audubon food house has a 

 hopper roof of wood, an upper food tray, 

 inclosed by four glass sides, and a lowei 

 food tray w^hich is open and serves as an 

 advertisement for the upper, the whole 

 being supported by a pole which runs to 

 the roof. After the birds have eaten 

 the contents of the lower tray, the more 

 adventurous ones lead the way to the 

 upper, in which is kept a permanent sup- 

 ply of food, protected from the winds 

 and storms by the glass sides about it 

 and the roof above. These bird houses 

 are a source of delight to the people as 

 well as to the birds, for through the glass 

 sides the birds may be 

 seen hopping about and 

 taking the greatest sat- 

 isfaction in the repast 

 that is provided for 

 them. 



Almost immediately 

 after the formation of 

 our bird club came the 

 first snow and as food 

 that is thrown out to 

 the birds in winter 

 readily sinks into the 

 snow, the boys of the 

 Academy attempted to 

 provide a feeding- 

 ground for them. At 

 first they used shovels 

 to clear away a space 

 but soon discovered 

 that a better method 

 consisted in trampling 

 down the snow. After 

 the boys had done this, 

 the girls came out to 

 scatter seed — and this 

 practice still continues. 

 Another method of 



