WHAT I HAVE DONE WITH BIRDS 



subject the young to great suffering and even death; so go to the 

 woods prepared, if such case arise, to give them a few bites your- 

 self. 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 drop it into the mouth of the young. 



In case you do not know what to feed a nestling, an egg put 

 on 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, just 

 think of the birds and what they want occasionally. 



The greatest brutality ever practised on brooding birds con- 

 sists in cutting down, tearing out and placing nests of helpless 

 young for your own convenience. Any picture so taken has no 

 earthly value, as it does not reproduce a bird's location or charac- 

 teristics. In such a case the rocking of the branches, which is 

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

 leaves of severed limbs quickly wither and drop, exposing both 

 old and young to the heat, so that your pictures represent, not the 

 free wild life of thicket and wood, but tormented creatures lolling 

 and bristling in tortures of heat, and trying 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 pic- 

 ture has not a shred of historical value. My state imposes heavy 

 fines for work of this sort and soon all others will do the same. 



The eggs of almost all birds are pointed and smaller at one 

 end than the other, and mother birds always place these points 

 together 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- 

 duce it so that students can identify a like nest from it. Bend 



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