CHAPTER VIII 



HOSPITALITY ALL THE YEAR 'ROUND 



MOST birds will appreciate hospitality at any 

 season. To some of them at certain times, it is a 

 matter of life and death. A few there are that 

 we cannot assist even when they are in greatest 

 need of assistance. For example, in a preced- 

 ing chapter we have spoken of the vast num- 

 ber of birds which are sometimes killed by late 

 spring storms. Some of these birds, which, like 

 the purple martins, feed almost wholly on insects 

 captured on the wing, we may find it impossible 

 to help. But there are many other birds which 

 naturally take their food on the ground or from 

 the trees and bushes and these may in some cases 

 at least be tided over for a few days until fine 

 weather makes it possible for them to get their 

 own living again. In Meriden, New Hampshire, 

 for instance, a number of us make a practice of 

 gathering, in the fall, the berries of mountain 

 ash, wild cherry, and other food plants, and dry- 

 ing them on the stalks in some place where 



163 



