Ihe ways in which they help us? When we find how much they save 

 us in labor and money we will not be so apt to kill them and destroy 

 their nests. 



The best way for you to find our bird friends is to study birds and 

 their habits; but it is sometimes hard to know just how to start in 

 such a study, and so in this leaflet I will try to show how some of our 

 common birds help us. See if you cannot find other ways than those 

 given and if you can add other birds to the list of those helping man. 



Perhaps the first bird you will see in the early spring will be the 

 robin. The robin is one of the first birds to come to us, and I think 

 there is not a boy or girl in the whole State who does not recognize 

 this pretty red-breasted visitor at a glance. If you make a study of 

 the robin during the season you will discover many interesting facts 

 about his food habits, and will soon come to think of him as one of 

 our best friends. It may be that you have been told that the robin is 

 a very bad bird, that it steals cherries and strawberries and other 

 products of the farm and garden. But watch the robin in a freshly 

 plowed field or in your yard and see what he is doing. Evidently he 

 is working eagerly for his dinner, and cherries and strawberries do not 

 grow in such places. It is plain that he is seeking his food among the 

 insect forms, and if we watch closely we will find that grubs, cater- 

 pillars, crickets, grasshoppers and other smaller forms make up the 

 larger part of his meal. Yet these are the forms which are most harm- 

 ful to the grain, and so every time you kill a robin you kill one of your 

 best friends. If you get up early enoiigh in the morning you may find 

 him hunting for cut-worms. You know these worms do their harmful 

 work in the night and the robin knows that if he gets any cut-worms 

 for breakfast he must be up very early in the morning. If a single 

 robin destroys so many harmful insects for his own use, how many 

 more do you think he will destroy when he has a family to feed? Did 

 you ever see a nest full of young robins, with their great mouths wide 

 open for food? Notice the kind of food the old birds give them. 

 Are they fed cherries and fruit, or worms and bugs? Do not take any 

 person's word for this, bixt see for yourself. For what I want is not 

 to tell you things, but to have you see things. I think that you will 

 find that animal food is necessary for the growth and welfare of the 

 young birds. I think you will also find that the old robin is kept very 

 busy all day long hunting worms and insects for the littlo ones in the 

 nest. Try to find how many times in an hour the old bird brings food 

 to the nest. Some one who has taken a great deal of interest in the 

 robins has found out that a young robin requires each day, more than 

 its own weight of animal food. 



