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 all summer. 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 



