BY TEE WAY BIDE 
3 
shell under the hickory tree. It was a won¬ 
der of wonders to us, but not more so than to 
a Mr. Robin who had a family over in the 
next yard. He got wind of the news and 
came right over to learn all the particulars. 
He sat on the edge of the nest and looked down 
into it, then cocked his head one way and an¬ 
other as if to say, “Now, did you ever?” and 
he made up his mind on the spot, that such a 
brave, capable little lady deserved help, and 
the way he flew back and forth between the 
garden and the nest was a lesson in the art of 
rapid transportation of commissary stores. 
Nor did his benovolence wear itself out on that 
first day, but every day at six o’clock he came 
over and helped to get supper. I don’t know 
whether he came at other times. I did not 
see him. 
A funny bit of household disipline was re¬ 
vealed by his coming—or perhaps I should say 
by his going. If he over-stayed his time lim¬ 
it, a sharp call came from across the way, at 
sound of which he dropped his work and dart¬ 
ed off for home with a quick “Coming!” never 
waiting for a second warning. 
I know the little robins were well fed, for 
when they left the nest on the morning of 
the 22nd of May, two of them were the 
strongest baby birds I ever saw fly. There 
were three of them. Ill befell the weakest the 
first day. I never saw him again. The moth¬ 
er raised the other two with my help. When¬ 
ever she screamed “Cats,” I rushed out and 
cried “Scat!” I think though, that the little 
birds missed their father’s counsel. Thev cer- 
v 
tainly were the least worldly-wise of all the 
intelligent young things I have seen. There is 
a very low trellis in our garden, just in front 
of a veritable jungle of vines and bushes, the 
place of the world for cats and tigers; and 
those two stupid creatures would sit on the 
trellis by the hour, with their backs to the 
jungle, an invitation to the cats and tigers 
crouching behind them, and if we “shooed” 
them off the trellis they would squat in two 
little heaps on a patch of bare earth and just 
wait to be eaten up. I think the cats mistook 
them for decoys, for they did live to grow up. 
Fannie J. R. Bright. 
Appleton, Wis. 
A MILD APRIL SNOW STORM. 
To open one’s eyes on the morning of the 
fifteenth of April and find eight inches of 
snow on the ievei and more still falling is 
lather discouraging and when one thinks, 
‘What will the robins and the bluebirds do? 
and the phoebes and martins, if they be still 
alive and in this northern country, how will 
they live, what will they eat?” the weather 
becomes a great source of anxiety*. A person 
immediately thinks “Flow can I feed the 
birds ? I must try to find some way of furn¬ 
ishing them with food, putting it in a place 
which they frequent and where it will not be 
covered with snow” 
I could think of no better way than to take 
a box in which Mason fruit cans are packed; 
put in suet, wheat, cracker and bread crumbs 
and a rotten apple, cover part of it with a 
board and then place it in as sheltered a po¬ 
sition as possible under a currant bush which 
t 
is a favorite resort of the birds in snowy 
weather. Soon after it was in position, an 
English sparrow came near, but fearing it was 
a trap, he would not go to the box, a robin 
flew close but evidently did not see it. Not 
long after seven o’clock blackbirds came from 
somewhere (probably from the north as from 
that direction most of the birds came that day) 
and acted as if on that particular spot they 
had breakfasted for many a day, for without 
any hesitation two or three of them went to 
the bax, hopped in and began eating, several 
more went to the suet in the tree which was 
then stuck in between two limbs, and tore 
off pieces, once six were around the suet at 
one time. I presume that the birds changed 
places and different ones ate. They staid 
here nearly half an hour, using four trees for 
their resting places. There were crow black¬ 
birds and cow blackbirds, the smaller ones 
did not try to eat but let their larger breth¬ 
ren have all the food. I knew there were a 
good many of them, but was surprised when 
they flew to see what a large number there 
were; two hundred would not be overestimat¬ 
ing their numbers, and one can imagine what 
a sight it was, all these jet black birds seen 
through the falling snow on snow-covered 
limbs, no colors but black, white and where a 
brown limb of tree trunk showed. Seeing that, 
no harm came to the blackbirds, English spar¬ 
rows flew to the box and thus showed the 
robins where they might dine, and thereafter 
I had no fears for the robins. About half 
past eight I carried out more food and one of 
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