2 THE FIRST BOOK OF BIRDS 
to see how birds live is much more interesting 
than to look at dead ones. 
It is pleasant to see how mother birds build 
their nests, and how they take care of their 
nestlings. It is charming to see the young ones 
when they begin to fly, and to know how they 
are taught to find their food, and to keep out 
of danger, and to sing, and everything young 
birds need to know. 
Then when they are grown up, it 1s interest- 
ing to find out where they go in winter, and 
why they do not stay with us all the year round. 
One who goes into the field to watch and 
study their ways will be surprised to find how 
much lke people they act. And after studying 
living birds, he will never want to kill them. 
It will seem to him almost like murder. 
