56 OUR NATIVE BIRDS 
into the snow are eagerly sought by the birds and afford 
much pleasure to the observer. All seeds collected in 
the autumn must be stored in some place where mice 
and rats cannot get at them, or not a kernel will be left. 
Weeds of all kinds must not be collected too late, or the 
birds will have eaten the seeds that have not dropped 
to the ground. Pieces of fat and suet nailed to boughs 
should not be too large, otherwise the birds will grease 
their wings with them in warm weather and with 
greased wings they cannot fly well. No salted meat 
should be fed. If your children do not know what to 
do on a long winter evening, let them make strings of 
the seeds of cucumbers, melons, squash, and pumpkins. 
Throw these strings into the trees and watch the fun, 
when the birds discover them. 
Another interesting device for feeding and observing 
birds can be arranged as follows: Fasten a small ever- 
green or a branch of some other tree near a convenient 
window, preferably in the second story, as that is safe 
from cats. Tie bits of raw, unsalted meat, suet, split 
walnuts, and other nuts to your tree. If you bore a 
hole into the shell, the spht nut can be firmly sus- 
pended by a string. After the kernel has been eaten 
out, the shell may be filled with suet. On such trees 
and branches chickadees and other birds will give pretty 
eymnastic performances. Nearly all seed-eating birds 
are fond of greens. They eat young herbs and tender 
young grass just like the domestic chickens. I have 
seen the slate-colored juncoes feast on a pasture of very 
young knotgrass or doorweed, Polygonum avieulare, 
