THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



can absolutely revolutionize bird life during the 

 winter. Many of these little friends can easily 

 enough endure the cold; and, in fact, no winter 

 passes without a few robins and some others of our 

 common birds are left behind by the flocks that go 

 southward. Other sorts change their color, and 

 stay with us as snow birds. I find no diflaculty 

 during the winter in gathering about my house a 

 large number of nuthatches, chicadees, purple 

 finches, and woodpeckers, by tying bones to the 

 trees with a plenty of meat, and pieces of suet. 

 Mrs. Davenport, of Vermont, adds to this list of 

 birds, juncos, linnets, song sparrows, robins, blue 

 jays and even orioles. All of these she feeds with 

 hemp seed, cracked corn, sunflower seed, bread 

 crumbs, and especially with bread made of one- 

 third wheat and two-thirds Indian meal. She puts 

 up a window shelf, protected by an awning, on 

 which she places the food, and so has the advan- 

 tage of being able to enjoy the birds while they en- 

 joy her gifts. This problem is not one of senti- 

 ment only, but of practical domestic economy. 

 Not only all summer are the birds destroying our 

 worst enemies — the only ones that we cannot 

 alone compete with — but all winter they are hunt- 



[298] 



