2 THE MAKING OF BIRDCRAFT SANCTUARY 



mail and teleplione took a hand, and l)efore a month had passed 

 the dream had a firm footing on earth. 



"Have yon thonght ont the land!" asked the first letter. 

 Two tracts came to mind at the call: One, a hundred-acre strip, 

 with a river frontage, four miles back in the hill-conntry, where 

 rocks, woods, and tangle combined to make what is considered 

 a birds' paradise. The otlier, a ten-acre bit of old pasture, where 

 calves and colts had held sway for years. Not many trees had it 

 but those few were great oaks, pepperidge, cedars, maples, and 

 lilack cherries. The rolling ground had a hill covered with trail- 



THE ENTRANCE GATE 



The Warden 's Lodge is shown at the left, a part of the Museum at the right. 



The Cat-Warden is on guard in the foreground. 



ing wild berries and a low swale broken by spring holes and 

 hedged with the alders that Song Sparrows love, while the vari- 

 ety of Avild fruits told that the birds had therein been making a 

 sanctuary for themselves these many years. Moreover the 

 land was but a ten minutes' walk from trolley, village and rail- 

 way station, and so near my own home that daily supervision 

 would be possible. 



"Buy the ten-acre lot," called the telephone, "and make the 

 plan of what you think Birdcraft Sanctuary (thus The Donor 

 named it after my first bird book) should be. The birds and 

 their comfort should be the first consideration; it must be 



