GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 
A place to live, if only a box nailed up on a tree, 
with an opening small enough to keep out intruders, 
A bird house more attractive in your own eyes is 
easily made by any boy or girl handy with a knife 
or a jig-saw, and really artistic houses, suited to 
particular birds, are described in various books 
and magazines, made from pieces of bark, sections 
of limb, or fir cones. A little study of the kind of 
nest each bird makes for itself may enable you to 
select your guests. The swallow, the cat-bird, the 
blackbird, the finch,—all should be welcomed: and 
suet tied on the branches, bread crumbs scattered 
around your door, grain sprinkled where you es- 
pecially want them to come, will encourage the win- 
ter birds to pay you a daily visit. 
A bird bath is sure to prove an irresistible at- 
traction. I have seen my back yard full of star- 
lings and sparrows, pushing and crowding each 
other to get into a little pool where the snow has 
melted around a clothes-pole! A shallow pan, with 
an inch or two of water, will often draw so many 
birds that it has to be filled again and again dur- 
ing the day. Birds suffer, too, in winter from 
thirst, and greatly appreciate a drinking place. A 
bird fountain, with its running water, is a delight 
for the rich; but a pretty enamelled tray, white 
or gray, and round, square or oval, can be bought 
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