The birds that are with us through the long winter will appreciate 
gratefully our thoughtful care in providing them with food. Suet, bones, 
scraps of meat, attached to the branches of trees or the sides of the 
houses will attract the chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches and blue- 
iays 'l-Iemp seed, sunflower seed, fine cracked corn and grain placed 
in shallow boxes or scattered on the ground will draw the sparrows 
iuncos, goldfinches, siskins and others. The deep snow and severe cold 
of the recent winters, making it extremely difficult for the birds to ob- 
tain food, has caused the death of many birds. Thus, feeding the birds 
i„ winter is an act of mercy which will repay an hundred fold, to say 
nothing of the joy and pleasure derived therefrom. Trees, shrubs, 
clumps of bushes, tangles and briars should be allowed to remain in 
the vicinity of the houses and by the roadsides in which birds may find 
shelter and nesting places. Birds would not molest fruits or the prod- 
ucts of gardens if they could obtain their natural food. For this pur- 
pose either plant, protect or save the following trees, shrubs and plants: 
Mulberry, buckthorn, elder, shadberry, dogwood, all kmds of cherry 
trees, bittersweet, viburnum, hackberry, bayberry and pokeberry. 
Instructions to TEACHERS.-Teachers in some of the ways 
mentioned above, should encourage their pupils in attracting 
birds to the school houses. This can be done in the villages 
as well as in the country. The rural schools especially have 
an excellent opportunity. When once a schoolboy gets thoroughly inter- 
ested in the study of birds, there will be little danger of his stomng 
them to death or robbing their nests. Let the teacher take the pupils into 
the fields where all may learn from each other's experience. If only one 
bird is known, either by pupil or teacher, that is a sufficient foundation 
upon which to begin. Others will soon be recognized and identified, 
and in a little while a dozen, a score or fifty birds- will be added to the 
list. , . 
Let the pupil tell orally or in writing about the birds seen durmg 
the field excursions. 
Pupils of the grammar and high schools could profitably keep records 
of the appearance of birds in the spring, beginning early in the season 
when the birds are few. 
5 
