hould know that you are not
enemies (of which they have so many), but their friends. The following
notes, together with the foregoing passage on feeding robins, on birds
in the garden have been prepared far this book:--

"Birds are grateful all the year through for a shallow pan of water,
which they can drink from and use also as a bath. And the bees, too,
will be glad to come and get a sip of water, for they also are thirsty
things. A small round yellow earthenware pan is excellent for the
thrushes and blackbirds, but it is as well to provide a smaller one,
say an ordinary shallow pie-dish, for the robins and little birds.
These should be refilled twice a day, at least, in summer time. You
can place the pans on the grass or path, where you can see them
comfortably from the house, but not nearer than you can help, because
the blackbirds are rather shy, and it would be a pity to make drinking
too great an adventure for them.

"Birds are thankful for a little feeding right through the spring,
both when the mother bird is sitting on the nest and the father has to
forage for two, and when the young ones are hatched and there are at
once many more mouths to fill. In the summer too, if it should be
unduly wet and cold, or unduly hot and dry, and grubs and insects
scarce, the young birds are pleased to find a meal ready for them. But
in the winter it is a positive duty to feed the birds; for remember
that when the ground is covered with snow, or frozen hard, they can
get no insects, and thus, after all the berries have gone, they will
starve unless they are helped with other food.

"Almost every household has enough waste scraps, if they are collected
carefully, to give the birds a good meal once a day. Bread, of course,
will form the chief part, but nothing comes amiss to them, however
tiny. Morsels of suet, dripping, shreds of fat, meat, and fish, and
cheese rind also, all mixed up together, are an especial treat. The
mince should be well mixed with the bread crumbs, or all may not get a
fair share. Crusts, or any hard, dry bits of bread, can be scalded
into sop (though, unlike chickens, wild birds do not seem to like it
hot), and a little piece of dripping or fat, soaked with the sop,
makes it more tasty for them. If the supply of bread be short, the
birds will be very pleased with chickens' rice. It should be the
'second quality' kind, in the brown husk, which can be procured from
most corn-dealers. But this is hardly n