42 



Bird -Lore 



except that the birds were not quite so ravenous after the first meal, and 

 by afternoon I was safe in discarding caution and could throw the .window 

 wide open with as much noise as possible. 1 took pains to let them see 

 into the large tin box swarming with worms as I held it in my hand 



and picked them out and 

 tossed them down to the 

 ground. We were pretty 

 good friends by the close 

 of the first day. 



My ideas are apt to 

 arrive by freight about 

 the morning after, or, I 

 am sure, I might have 

 been able to record that 

 wild Bluebirds could be 

 tamed to feed on the 



window-sill in three hours' 

 time. However that may 

 be, next morning early 

 they were both there as 

 you see them in the pic- 

 ture, and the study win- 

 dow-sill remained their 

 dining-table until the first 

 brood left the nest on 

 May twenty-eighth. 



A few days later when I came home from the laboratory Mrs. Hodge 

 greeted me with : "You can't guess what happened this afternoon — Bluet 

 perched on my finger and fed from the hand." After this it became the 

 pastime of the family to have Bluet feeding on the hand, and often she 

 would seem to linger to warm her toes. Twinklewing never grew quite 



A FEW DAYS LATER 



