THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 399 
dry weather we may provide mud for Robins, Swallows, and 
Phoebes to use. At such a time a Robin has been seen to 
wet its feathers and then trail them in the dust to make mud 
for its nest. Put a pan of mud or clay on the window shelf, 
and see if the birds do not find it. All other nesting mate- 
rial should be exposed constantly from April to August. 
Feeding the Summer Birds. 
The food table or window shelf should be supplied with 
food allsummer. It may help out some bird when in times 
of storm or temporary scarcity it can hardly find sufficient 
food for its young. We can make feeding experiments with 
grains and seeds, nuts and fruits, cooked foods, cereals, bread, 
and cake. There should be some food at hand for insect- 
eating birds and their young, that we may teach them to 
trust us. Taming an old bird in summer is usually up-hill 
work; but now and then a Catbird or Robin, more confid- 
ing than the rest, may learn to come to be fed or even take 
food from the hand. Practically all birds will eat hairless 
caterpillars, such as the cankerworms; most of them are 
fond of grasshoppers and meal worms. We may now and 
then find it necessary to feed some young birds, when cold 
storms cut short the natural food supply. 
Occasionally a young bird jumps or falls from the nest be- 
fore it is full-fledged and strong. Such birds are likely to fall 
a prey to cats, snakes, or Crows; but we may be able to save 
them by a little care or a few days’ feeding. It will not do 
to return the young fledgeling to the nest, as usually it will 
not stay there. If the weather is warm and the parents are 
at hand, the youngster may now be put in a cage with an oil 
cloth cover over its top, and the cage hung on the branch of 
a tree near the nest, where the parents sometimes will feed 
the fledgeling through the bars. It can be watched a little, 
taken in, and kept very warm for a few nights, when it may 
be allowed to go with the rest of the brood. If the parent 
birds are dead or have deserted the helpless young, it will be 
something of a task to supply by hand the wants of the 
young birds, as they need feeding often during daylight, 
and should be fed about all they will eat. Grasshoppers and 
. 
