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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