you want for your nestlings are in the garden, and the seeds you like for a lunch for ourself are on the weeds mixed up with the lawn
grass. You needn’t mind taking them, either, for the people you live with will be only too glad to get rid of them, because their flowers are killed by the worms, and their lawns look badly when
weeds grow in the grass, so you will only be helping the kind friends who have already helped you. Don't you think that will be nice?
Chippy’s Family.
Did you ever look into a Chippy’s nest? The eggs are a pretty blue and have black dots on the larger end. When the little birds first come out of the shell their eyes are shut tight, like those of little kittens when they are first born. If you are very gentle you can stroke the backs of the little ones as they sit waiting for the old birds to feed them. I remember one plum tree nest on a branch so low that a little girl could look into it. One day when the mother bird was brooding the eggs the little girl crept close up to the tree, so close she could look into Mother Chippy's eyes, and the trustful bird never stirred, but just sat and looked back at her. “Isn't she tame?” the child cried, she was so happy over it.
There was another Chippy’s nest in an evergreen by the house, and when the old birds were hunting for worms we used to feed the nestlings bread crumbs. They didn't mind the bread not being worms so long as it was something to eat. It would have made you laugh to see how wide, they opened their bills! It seemed as if the crumbs could drop clear down to their boots! Wouldn’t you like to feed a little family like that sometime?
A Prize Offered
WE want the boys and girls who read Bird-Lore to feel that they have a share in making the journal interesting. Young eyes are keen and eager when their owner's attention is aroused: so we ask the attention of every reader of Bird-Lore of fourteen years or under to the following offer: To the one ending us the best account of a February walk we will give a year’s subscription to this journal. The account should contain 250 to 300 words, and should describe the experiences of a walk in the country or some large park, with particular reference to the birds observed.
