i8 
delicate and beautiful to be handled with human fingers, and birds 
think too much of them and spend too much time combing and brush¬ 
ing and preening and washing 
and smoothing them to allow 
of their being roughly handled. 
As a general rule in bird 
taming we should handle birds 
or rather allow them to handle 
(footle) us, solely by their feet. 
And when this rule is learned 
it is surprising how easily a 
bird may be induced to come 
to us and perch on our fingers. 
When all danger of their be¬ 
coming frightened and flutter¬ 
ing is past, the hand may be 
gently closed over them and 
they may even enjoy being 
squeezed a little. My cedar- 
bird has reached this stage, 
at least when he is cold, and 
others have found this true; 
but it only applies to birds 
when they have become per¬ 
fectly tame. 1 
Suppose we have a bird to 
tame, just how shall we go 
about it? We will place it in 
a clean cage, supply it with water and such food as the food chart may 
indicate for the time of year. We will be careful not to frighten it for 
the first day, wdiile we study among its different foods the one it likes 
best. By the morning of the second day, when all the food in the cage 
1 The charming little story of taming a vireo, in Bird World (Ginn & Co., 
1898, pp. 106,), and also Caroline Crowninshield Bascom’s “Story of Little 
Billee.” (Birds and all Nature, 1899, P- 49 *) “He (Little Billee, a pet bird,) 
loves to visit my mother in her room, and is very happy while walking all over 
her, but she has never yet been able to touch him. He seems to have eyes all 
over his head, for no matter how careful she is, he always sees the finger. He 
thoroughly enjoys my squeezing him in my hand and kissing him over and 
over again.” 
