LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[Strings and cotton and chicken feathers for the birds’ nestings] Frontis PAGE [Suet and doughnuts for downy, corn for the cardinal, cereal for the song sparrow] v [Goldfinch feeding babies] vi [“Oh, where is Mother?”] viii [The basin on the porch railing] 1 [They were making that can into a bird home] 4 [The baby robins] 9 [One winter day a pigeon came in at an open window] 10 [Vacant lots attract birds] 11 [The winter birds like peanuts and suet] 13 [When I did not have peanuts I gave the nuthatch doughnuts] 14 [The dear happy chickadee] 17 [The selfish nuthatch] 20 [Cats belong on their own premises] 21 [The basin was Bunny’s looking glass] 22 [The genial gray squirrel] 27 [The return of the bluebird] 28 [Sometimes she was just gliding through the entrance as he alighted on the housetop with a choice morsel for her] 31 [Bluebird babies to feed and care for] 33 [The bluebirds moved into the pretty double house] 34 [Rented for the summer] 36 [The small wren house in the pear tree] 39 [A baby wren on the window sill] 43 [Bluebirds are great helpers in a garden] 44 [Baby flicker peeps at the outside world] 49 [Mrs. Wood Thrush on her nest] 51 [A killdeer’s nest in a potato field] 53 [The bluebirds in their primitive home] 55 [Every little while a goldfinch came to the “store” tree and got some string] 57 [The chimney swifts’ temporary home] 60 [The flicker is also called golden-winged woodpecker] 61 [Chimney swifts’ nest] 62 [One of these Swift babies was put to rest in the nest, but he did not stay there long] 63 [A robin’s nest] 68 [Near the nest tree was a big stone which the redheaded woodpecker used as a perch] 74 [Each little goldfinch called as loud as he could] 76 [A young goldfinch alighted on the clothes line] 77 [This martin scout brought a lady with him] 78 [The martins’ aircastle] 81 [The home-coming of the martins] 87 [A great gathering in mid-air] 91 [A bath for birds and a lunch beside it] 92 [The crested flycatcher and a Berlepsch house] 95 [Kitty watching for mice] 98 [The new food house was visited by bluejays] 100 [A feedery much liked by downy] 101 [A tree trimmed with peanuts for the birds] 102 [The cardinal’s favorite feedery] 105 [Always Mr. Cardinal came first and ate a while; then she would follow] 109 [Song sparrow] 110 [Mother Oriole in the bath] 113 [So made that they can be easily opened after use and cleaned] 116 [Food house, made out of waste materials] 118 [Maybe they will fly to us, instead of away from us] 121 [The birdies’ policeman] 122 [The finished martin house] 128 [Raising the martin house] 128
“OH, WHERE IS MOTHER?”
HOW TO HAVE BIRD NEIGHBORS
THE BASIN ON THE PORCH RAILING
HOW TO HAVE BIRD NEIGHBORS
I
MY FIRST BIRD NEIGHBORS
The birds that live in my yard are the loveliest of all my neighbors. During the springtime and summer they awaken me every morning with their sweet songs. Then all the day long their pretty ways make me wish I had nothing to do but to watch them.