TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 



349 



cuckoos, and the humming bird, are easily tamed and may 

 be fed successfully and kept in comfort, if accidentally 

 disabled for flight. 



The second class includes birds that by preference feed 

 on insects but are able to vary their diet to fruits, nuts, 

 or grains when insects fail. The bluebird, robin, wood 

 thrush, mocking bird, brown thrasher, catbird and all other 

 thrushes, chickadee, cedar bird, grosbeak, meadow lark, 

 grackle, oriole, and woodpecker 

 belong in this class. For these 

 the best work must consist in 

 planting and preserving such 

 trees, shrubs, and vines as will 

 insure them an abundant supply 

 of their favorite fruits. If de- 

 sirable, any of this class may be 

 fed in confinement on fruits, 

 meats, bread, eggs, potatoes, 

 and meal worms, as will be 

 described presently. The birds 

 in this class that spend the 

 winter with us — chickadees, 

 nuthatches, brown creepers, and 

 woodpeckers — may be attracted to our window sills and 

 made very tame by supplying them with cracked nuts, suet, 

 meat, bones, doughnuts, etc., during severe weather. 



The two classes already described are commonly known 

 to bird fanciers as "soft-billed" birds. To the third class 

 belong the seed-eating, "hard-billed" birds, the canary, 

 goldfinch, song and chipping sparrows ; in short, all the 

 finches and sparrows. These birds are most easily 



Fig. 



139- 



Portrait of a Young 

 Bluebird 



(By Myron W. Stickney) 



