OUR BIRDS’ RESTAURANT. 63 
eating raw flesh and eat cooked foods when they have 
been to school a while. 
We rolled some cracker crumbs very fine. Then we 
crumbled a couple of seed cookies, and chopped some 
walnuts into bits. Then we put some stewed black- 
berries in a saucer, and a slice of bread and butter on a 
plate. 
This seemed to us like a pretty “square meal” for 
February birds, and we stood back and smiled at the 
spread. Some people passing in the street smiled too, 
and asked if we were having “‘a picnic, such weather.”’ 
And we were sure we heard the birds twittering. Of 
course chairs at our restaurant were out of the ques- 
tion, things were gotten up in such a hurry, owing to 
the “hard times ” among the birds. 
We stood behind a hedge and watched to see if com- 
pany would come. We were not disappointed. First 
a pair of brown towhees! hopped along and up to the 
edge of the table. They did not even look for chairs, 
but went straight for the blackberries, pecking away at 
the sweet morsels until they were all gone, and then 
looking as if they could have taken more. 
“Now, Mrs. Towhee,” we said, “you had better put 
up a few cans of blackberries for yourself next summer, 
if you think they are so nice.” She made no answer, 
but looked as if she expected us to put up enough for 
ourselves and her too. 
Then along came the sparrows.2, They took the 
1 Pipilo fuscus senicula. 2 Melospiza fasciata heermanni. 
