or three
pairs. Two pairs of pretty brown sparrows (_Spizella socialis_) built
nests in a small Chinese honeysuckle on a veranda-pillar not six feet from
the front door. These nests were about four and five feet high; and
although the veranda, being furnished with rustic chairs and a comfortable
Mexican hammock, was almost constantly occupied, yet the birds built their
nests and tended their little families as unconcerned, as confident of our
protection apparently, as if we had been creatures of their own kind. They
would not move from their work when we approached so closely that our
faces were only a few inches from the nests. This spring more little
houses were made and fastened up in the trees--rude little painted boxes,
with a roof and a door in front, the whole set on a small board serving
for a doorstep as well as general foundation. The bluebirds were specially
delighted with these houses, and took possession almost as fast as they
were put up. The catbird, a first cousin of the Southern mocking-bird, is
also very fond of the neighborhood of human beings, and many others which
I know imperfectly as yet.

Besides building little houses for bluebirds and others, a very effective
means of attracting birds generally is a little tray for crumbs, seeds,
etc. A piece of board a foot square with an inch-high border to keep the
food from blowing off, and fastened upon a tree, will answer every
purpose, though it may be improved by a roof. But the wisest device for
calling birds about the house--in places where there are no brooks or
springs near especially--is a bird-bath. Almost all birds are fond of
bathing; and any one who will but take the trouble to fill a shallow dish
every day with water, and place it in some shady nook, will be repaid a
thousand-fold by the sight of the birds bathing--some flashing the spray
in all directions, some dressing their wet plumage in the near branches,
some disputing the right to the first plunge.

To those enjoying the luxury of a garden-fountain it is very easy to
arrange a very excellent bath of this kind, and it is surprising that so
few have thought of it. All that is necessary is to place the edge of a
very shallow dish under the drip of the fountain-basin. Half an inch of
water is sufficient--small birds will not bathe unless the water is very
shallow, and they do not like to get under the spray--or a little platform
could be managed in the fountain-basin. For my birds, as a dis