How to Invite Bird Neighbours 



rude spring winds. Flocks of iridescent grackles or 

 blackbirds, as they are also called, wheeze and creak 

 their discussions over suitable sites in the top of our 

 tall evergreens. The robins' clear, ringing, military 

 call is heard again from 

 the apple trees and lawn. 

 Dusky little phoebes 

 timidly investigate the 

 beams under our piazza 

 roofs ; swallows skim 

 above our barns. A 

 little later come Jenny 

 Wren and Sir Christo- 

 pher to dispute with the 

 ubiquitous sparrow the 

 right of possession to 

 every sheltered cranny : 

 the shutters of our 

 houses, overhanging 

 eaves, bird boxes and 

 tree hollows. With a temper out of all proportion 

 to its diminutive size, the house wren dashes at any 

 intruder near the chosen home, chattering scoldings 

 into his very ears until even the sparrow is glad to 

 leave the place. Then how quickly bubbles up the 

 rollicking song of ecstatic joy from the tiny victor's 

 throat ! In a free fight the bluebird, too, whose 

 disposition is by no means so heavenly as his feathers, 

 worsts the sparrow. Robins pay no more attention 

 to the teasing impudence of that dingy little upstart 

 than a St. Bernard pays to the yelps of small curs. 



A home that once grew on a 

 gourd-vine 



