17 
lowed than that of Olive Thorne Miller, which is, to liberate a bird as 
soon as it becomes evident that it is not possible to render it happy 
and contented. With careful observation of this rule common objec¬ 
tions to caged birds fall to the ground, and it would seem that a few 
of each species might serve a higher purpose than that of food for cats 
if they were tamed so as to be happy and companionable, and brought 
into our schools to teach the children, from actual life, all their calls, 
notes, and songs, their habits and manners, and beauties of plumage 
and action, all about their foods and their possibilities for destroying 
insect pests. And we might even have them building their nests and 
rearing their broods on the window sills. This may seem impossible ; 
but many of our common birds will nest in captivity. Suppose we 
have a pair, of robins. If fed well and supplied with a crotch and 
material for building, they would doubtless build their nest, and if, 
after the eggs were laid, the whole were set outside the nearest shady 
window and securely fastened there, they might be given their liberty 
and would rear their brood under the eyes of the whole school. What 
stories might be read in this way from real bird life. In a few years 
birds might be flying into our open windows to sing to us, as they 
did for Mrs. Brightwen. 
TAMING OUR WILD BIRDS AND ATTRACTING THEM TO 
OUR HOMES. 
He is so tame he never stirs from 
his twig for anybody, no matter how 
near a person may come ; he alights 
on arms and hands and hair unafraid ; 
he rifles the flowers I hold when I am 
gathering them, and I sometimes 
think he is the very most charming 
thing in the garden. I shall never 
forget the surprise of joy that filled 
me when one for the first time alight¬ 
ed on my sleeve and rested, as much 
at home as if I were a stick or a harm¬ 
less twig. Sparrows and nut-hatches 
had often alighted on my head as I 
stood musing over my flowers, per¬ 
fectly still, but to have this tiny spark 
of brilliant life come to anchor, as it 
were, on anything so earthly as my 
arm was indeed a nine days’ wonder. 
Now it has grown to be an old story, 
but it is never any less delightful.— 
Celia Thaxter , An Island Garden , p. ///. 
Description of her humming-birds. 
Let but a bird — that being so free 
and uncontrolled, which with one 
stroke of the wing puts space between 
you and himself—let him but be will¬ 
ing to draw near and conclude a 
friendship with you, and lo, how 
your heart is moved ! No one can be 
insensible to the claim which confi¬ 
dence imposes; it is, so to speak, a 
freeman’s right. The stork of the 
north builds its nest on your roof, and 
everybody envies you, and seeks the 
same favor in the coming spring. The 
swallow of the south makes our open 
house her own, and joy enters with 
her ; her presence is a promise of hap¬ 
piness.— Mme. Michelet,Nature, p. 39. 
Any one who can resist the monkey-like impulse to ‘ ‘ grab ’ ’ can 
easily tame a bird ; at any rate, a young one. Birds’ feathers are far too 
