CHAPTER VII. 

 How TO DOMESTICATE AND TAME BIRDS. 



EVERYBODY enjoys the familiar presence of 

 " wild " birds. Even persons who have never 

 thought much of these winged creatures are 

 pleased when the Wrens or Bluebirds force 

 themselves into notice by nesting in the letter- 

 box at the gate, or pre-empting a cranny under 

 the piazza roof. 



People do not realize that, with a very little 

 trouble, they might have a hundred bird-neigh- 

 bors in summer, where now there are none, or 

 only a pair or two, who have come uninvited and 

 unprovided for. Every home in the country or 

 near our cities, and very many in the towns, and 

 even in the cities themselves, might have, with 

 each coming of spring, a score of feathered 

 friends, returning from a far-away southern 

 wintering. 



Nothing so civilizes and humanizes children as 



