The Birds and Poets 27 



by a goodly number of birds, and some of these I 

 would not even notice had I not previously met 

 them in the woods and fields and learned to love 

 them. 



Judging from some stories which have been 

 written, doubtless there are nature enthusiasts 

 who would even ascribe to some of the birds a 

 knowledge of social proprieties and customs, for 

 certain it is that if you will but call on the birds 

 they will return the call, and you will know and 

 enjoy them when they come. If you continue treat- 

 ing them with indifference, and never care to see 

 or know them, it is quite certain you never will, 

 more's the pity. They will not first seek you out, 

 but if you will but cultivate their acquaintance, 

 you will see them often, either at your home or at 

 theirs. 



In addition to our old friends the robins, I 

 have been visited this April by blue birds, flickers, 

 house wrens, towhees, white-throated sparrows, 

 cedar waxwings, blue jays, wood, Wilson and gray- 

 cheeked thrushes, meadowlarks, bronze grackles, 

 brown thrashers, song sparrows and a Grinnell's 

 water thrush, and I shall be happy indeed to 

 return the calls of each and every one. Some of 

 them live with me during the summer, and our 

 home life without them would lack something fine 

 which it now has. The song sparrow may be heard 

 almost any spring or summer day. 



Henry Van Dyke claims him as an old friend: 



