es, ripe fruit,
insects, and snails. He is a thirsty bird and needs plenty of water.

Birds of all kinds especially like cocoanut (though they will come to
the window-sill simply for bread crumbs). The cocoanut should be sawn
in two, and a hole bored through each half, about an inch from the
edge. A strong string is then threaded in and they are hung from the
bough of a tree. They should be hung rather high up, on a bough
reaching as far out from the trunk as possible, so as to avoid all
risk from the cat. The birds frequent elm-trees more than any others,
because the rough bark contains many insects, but you may choose any
kind of tree, as close to your windows as you like. The birds will
keep pecking at the cocoanut all day long and will soon want a new
one. If you have no tree near the house you might fasten a cord across
the outer frame of your window and tie the pieces of nut to that. The
birds would soon find out the cocoa-nut and come to it, and bread
crumbs could also be put on the window-sill to attract them. Or, if
you have a veranda, they could be hung up there, if you could make
them safe from the cat. Mrs. Earle, in her book _More Pot-Pourri from
a Surrey Garden_, gives elaborate directions for an arrangement in a
veranda or balcony of cocoanuts, etc., for the birds. Lumps of fat
will do as well as cocoanut. Some birds also greatly love a bone to
pick at--an uncooked one with plenty of fat on it, which the butcher
will probably be glad to give you if you ask him and explain its
purpose. It can be hung up in a tree or merely laid on the
window-sill.

The Robin

In the ordinary way one would not keep robins at all. They are so tame
and fond of the company of human beings that they will come regularly
to the door for crumbs every morning and never be far off at any time.
But if a wounded robin is found or a nest is abandoned (probably owing
to the death of the mother at the cat's hands) just before the young
birds are ready to fly, you might pop them in a cage. They do not
often thrive long in captivity, even if the confinement does not seem
irksome, but to keep one until it was strong enough to be let loose
would be a kindness. Still there have been many cases of happy tame
robins. The best food for them is bread crumbs, grated carrot, yoke of
egg and sponge-cake mixed together, the carrot making the mixture
moist enough. A few insects daily are advisable. Robins are such
quarrelsome birds that it is im