382 Bird - Lore 



A Christmas Tree for the Birds 



THE Center Bird Club of the Junior Audubon Class of Pepperell, Mass., 

 is one of four bird clubs organized in the spring of 191 5 for the children, 

 in different parts of the town. It consists of thirty members, and meets 

 once a month. The Audubon leaflets have been given out each month and 

 the children have done good work in coloring them, and have been interested 

 in learning about each bird described. Bird walks have been taken in summer, 

 nesting-, food- and shelter-boxes put up, and all the children pledged to pro- 

 tect the birds in every possible way. 



During the Christmas holidays the children trimmed a tree for the birds 

 on the lawn at Highledge (the home of one of the teachers). The tree looked 

 very gay when finished, garlanded with strings of popcorn and cranberries 

 and hung with red apples, baskets of cracked nuts and boxes of seed, topped 

 off with a cheery little Santa Claus bearing a tiny flag that floated merrily in 

 the wind. 



The feathered guests appeared much interested in all the proceedings, 

 attracted by food-boxes filled with seed and cracked corn, a hanging lunch- 

 counter stocked with nuts and sunflower seeds for the special delectation of 

 the Chickadees and Nuthatches, and suet and marrow-bones fastened on 

 neighboring trees for the Blue Jays. It was a very jolly afternoon for both birds 

 and children, although owing to illness and a rehearsal for a Christmas enter- 

 tainment on that day, fewer Club members were able to be present than 

 anticipated. — Annetta S. Merrill. 



[A charming intimacy is created between children and birds when the latter are 

 attracted to the former by means of such a symbol as the Christmas tree — not that the 

 birds have any inkling of its significance, but because, indirectly, they become a part 

 of the children's most cherished holiday. Everyone ought to be better and happier for 

 celebrating Christmas, and birds can add much to the day's joy. 



It would be a delightful innovation if local Audubon Societies set about helping the 

 different schools in their vicinities arrange Christmas trees for the birds, as an introduc- 

 tion to feeding birds during the winter. A helping hand or bit of encouragement quietly 

 given here and there accomplishes more, often, than a spasmodic entertainment or lec- 

 ture. Audubon Societies have not done their whole duty when they have provided a 

 few public lectures or distributed some hundreds of leaflets. Coming into personal 

 contact with teachers and pupils is what counts most. — A. H. W.] 



HOUSE-WARMING 



Excerpt from Chapter XIII, 'Walden' by Thoreau. 



"At length the winter set in in good earnest . . . and the wind began to howl 

 around the house as if it had not had permission to do so till then. Night after night 

 the geese came lumbering in in the dark with a clangor and a whistling of wings, even 

 after the ground was covered with snow, some to alight in Walden, and some flying 

 low over the woods toward Fair-Haven, bound for Mexico. Several times, when return- 



