114 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



dip first the beak and the face and whole head in 

 the water and shake it off until all the table is 

 well sprinkled. 



You cannot enjoy the winter sparrows without 

 a garden -table. A schoolhouse window -shelf 

 would do for them, placed high out of reach, but 

 in sight from the inside. But there is danger of 

 our turning the schoolhouse into an aviary if we 

 go on. Better place the table in the grounds, and 

 respect the rights of the birds to that particular 

 corner. 



There is one sparrow that has not yet come 

 farther south in California than Fresno. We do 

 not want to see him. Still, should he come, we 

 will try to make the best of it. It will be of no 

 use to object to his company! It will do no good 

 to start out to "kill him off!" When he comes, 

 he will come to stay. That is the English spar- 

 row. 



Scarcely any one had a good word to say for 

 the English sparrows, until it was discovered that 

 they were fond of the seventeen-year locusts. 

 Then the farmers began to praise them. Their 

 good appetites were talked about as if they were 

 virtues, and the boys quit robbing their nests. 

 But the locusts were soon gone, and the farmers 

 have forgotten what they owe the sparrows. So 

 the birds are persecuted again. 



