226 IN THE DAYS OP AUDUBON 



Open rustic-work may be placed over a nest that is in 

 danger of being destroyed by a cat, as the nest of a robin 

 near the house on a friendly limb. The robin would be 

 likely to return to it a second year. 



The birds that build in the walls may be protected in 

 this way, as also the night-birds that nest on rocks. A 

 friendly atmosphere makes friendly birds, and the rusticity 

 has a charm that is educational. Such things are kindly 

 thoughts embodied, and they make home sacred and the 

 memories of dooryard trees lasting joys. They make young 

 people's hearts turn home wherever they may be. 



SUGGESTIONS OP TOPICS POE CLUBS 



1. Study how the birds prepared the earth for man. 



2. Study the evidences of reason in birds — how they 

 build their nests in different ways so as to escape from 

 their enemies; how the partridge uses illusion to protect 

 her young. 



3. Study the bird songs of the morning — the song of 

 triumph; of the evening — the song of meditation and rest. 



4. Study how birds help man : 



1. The birds that protect the garden and fruit 



bushes, the robins, the finches, the black- 

 birds. 



2. The herons, that extract worms from animals' 



flesh. 



3. The birds that protect trees by grubbing, as the 



woodpeckers. 



4. The birds that clear the air — the swallows. 



5. The birds that destroy sap-eating insects, as the 



magpie- 



