floor or ground where they seem always 

 at great disadvantage, awkward in the 

 extreme. Their favorite feat is swinging 

 on the clothes-Hne in the veranda. They 

 clasp the line with their long claws, drop 

 the body straight downward with the 

 queer little head at right angles with the 

 body and swing backwards and forwards 

 with the vibrating line, in a most ridic- 

 ulous fashion. They always fly at the 

 approach of a human, with a nasal pro- 

 test at tlie untimely interruption ; but 

 they invariably drive away the smaller 

 birds. 



For winsome ways, and happy tones, 

 confiding glances and loving caresses 

 commend me to the cheery, social, con- 

 stant, all-the-year-round chickadees. In 

 my first intimacy with them they would 

 alight at my feet, on my head or shoul- 

 ders, but on my hand never so long as 

 there were crumbs on the tray. One 

 morning I withheld the crumbs until they 

 would take them from my hand, and 

 therefore it was my daily delight to feed 

 them in this way. 



Only once did any other species allow 

 me to touch it. A red-breasted nuthatch 

 was clinging to the boarding at the far 

 end of the veranda, while a chickadee 

 clung to my fingers busy with his break- 

 fast. Suddenly and straight as an ar- 

 row the little nuthatch shot the length of 

 the veranda and alighted on the other 

 side of my hand to share the lunch. It 

 was so unexpected and so sudden that I 

 was perfectly startled and supposed both 

 birds would take alarm ; but they evident- 

 ly did not receive the shock and finished 

 their crumbs as unconcernedly as if I 

 were a stump or a tree. 



My experiences with these feathered 

 guests I related to a neighbor, who w^as 

 then suffering from an incurable disease. 

 She, too, was a bird lover, and at ooce 

 suggesed to her thirteen-year-old boy 

 that they should put out crumbs and suet 

 in an apple-tree immediately before her 

 window. In a few days she was enjoy- 

 ing the daily visits of jays, woodpeckers, 

 nuthatches and chickadees. 



How many hours the sufferer lay and 

 watched her winsome guests, how much 

 of pain and weariness was forgotten or 



more patiently borne, because of this en- 

 tertainment may be readily imagined. A 

 few more hungry birds were cherished 

 and helped through the frigid Vermont 

 winter, and the whole world was a bit 

 brighter for all who had a share in these 

 daily experiences. 



Nor was this all. The physician no- 

 ticed with pleasure this unusual ministry 

 to the patient, and that the winged at- 

 tendants could do what he could not to 

 beguile the painful hours, and he brought 

 along as a supplementary service a vol- 

 ume of ''Bird Neighbors" which was an 

 added delight to the sick one. His 

 ''counsel" became interested also, and 

 went home to try his hand at enticing 

 "table boarders." 



Not in vain to awaken in a stern old 

 man, supposed to be hardened by scenes 

 of suft'ering to the sentimental pastimes 

 of idle hands, an interest in these tiny 

 atoms of creation, and even a love for 

 their guileless, winning manners and 

 habits ! So the current of interest broad- 

 ened and deepened, sweeping before it 

 outside circles and capturing new devo- 

 tees ; nor was it ended in the home band. 



In the first snowy days of December all 

 that remained of our friend w^as laid to 

 rest — first, under smilax and carnations, 

 fragrant hyacinths and callas, and then, 

 under the spotless snow-wreaths by the 

 riverside. Was it not fitting that even in 

 that hour the feathered friends of the 

 departed should come back to the trees 

 about her home just as cheerily and 

 blithely as ever, calling for attention? 

 Ah, certainly ; for the one who had most 

 faithfully and constantly kept vigil in the 

 sick room welcomed them all the more 

 gladly because the absent one loved them, 

 and said: "We will feed them in the 

 maples this year (before the living-room 

 of the family) where we all can w^atch 

 them better." 



Surely we all are made better as well 

 as happier by our interest and care for 

 the tiny birds of our woodlands and 

 meadows, which are never too small to 

 insure the Divine care and protection. 

 "Your Heavenly Father feedeth them." 

 Sara Elizabeth Graves. 



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