FRIENDS IN FEATHERS 



you subject the young to much suffering and even death ; so go 

 to the woods prepared^ if such case arises, to give them a few bites 

 yourself. In no possible way can it hurt a young bird for you 

 to drop into its maw a berry or worm of the kind its parents feed 

 it, since all the old bird does, in the majority of cases, is to pick a 

 worm or berry from the bushes and feed it to the young. 



When you do not know what to give a nestling, an egg put 

 in cold water, brought to a boil and boiled twenty minutes, 

 then the yolk moistened with saliva, is always safe for any bird. 

 While you are working so hard for what you want yourself, 

 think of the birds and what they want, occasionally. 



The greatest brutality ever practised on brooding birds 

 consists in cutting down, tearing out and placing nests of help- 

 less young for your own convenience. Any picture so taken has 

 no earthly value, as it does not reproduce a bird's location or 

 characteristics. In such a case the rocking of the branches, 

 which is cooling to the birds, is exchanged for a solid location, 

 while the leaves of severed limbs quickly wither and drop, ex- 

 posing both old and young to the heat, so that your pictures 

 represent, not the free wild life of the thicket and wood, but 

 tormented creatures lolling and bristling in tortures of heat, 

 working to save their lives under stress of forced and unnatural 

 conditions. If you can not reproduce a bird's nest in its location 

 and environment, your picture has not a shred of historical value. 

 My state imposes heavy fines for such work, and soon I hope 

 all others will do the same. 



The eggs of many of the birds are pointed and smaller at one 

 end than the other, so mother birds always place these points to- 

 gether in the center of the nest. If you wish to make a study of 

 a nest for artistic purposes, bend the limb but slightly, so that 

 the merest peep of the eggs shows, and take it exactly as the 

 mother leaves it. If you desire it for historical purposes, repro- 



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