OUR BIRDS' RESTAURANT.--MEALS AT ALL HOURS.
One day in the middle of winter some one suggested that we set up a
"Birds' Restaurant" out on the lawn. It was such a funny idea that we
had to laugh. After we were done laughing, we went to work, while the
birds watched us, as they always do, expecting some surprise.
We set a rustic table under a tree by the summer-house. Then came the
question, "What shall we put on it?" We imagined the birds all about
were making remarks, and suggesting in an undertone, "Just what you
eat, if you please." We remembered that the birds in our yard are
civilized birds, and so of course we gave them civilized food.
If you are not well acquainted with the birds, we suppose you will be
amused at our mention of bread and butter. But the birds make food a
"matter of taste," like other people. They have learned to like the
flavor of things they never dreamed of eating when they were wild,
just as some races of men leave off eating raw flesh and eat cooked
foods when they have been to school a while.
We rolled some cracker crumbs very fine. Then we crumbled a couple of
seed cookies, and chopped some walnuts into bits. Then we put some
stewed blackberries in a saucer, and a slice of bread and butter on a
plate.
This seemed to us like a pretty "square meal" for February birds,
and we stood back and smiled at the spread. Some people passing in
the street smiled too, and asked if we were having "a picnic, such
weather." And we were sure we heard the birds twittering. Of course
chairs at our restaurant were out of the question, things were gotten
up in such a hurry, owing to the "hard times" among the birds.
We stood behind a hedge and watched to see if company would come. We
were not disappointed. First a pair of brown towhees[12] hopped along
and up to the edge of the table. They did not even look for chairs,
but went straight for the blackberries, pecking away at the sweet
morsels until they were all gone, and then looking as if they could
have taken more.
[12] Pipilo fuscus senicula.
"Now, Mrs. Towhee," we said, "you had better put up a few cans of
blackberries for yourself next summer, if you think they are so
nice." She made no answer, but looked as if she expected us to put up
enough for ourselves and her too.
Then along came the sparrows.[13] They took the bread and butter
and cracker crumbs. They actually picked the butter from the bread,
just as all children do who are very fond of butter, feeling sure of
another "spread"' when that is gone. In less than an hour that table
was cleared of every bit of food. The linnets took the walnuts and
what was left of the cookies. Our birds' restaurant was a success.
If we could have charged them the regular price for their meals, we
should have made money at the business. But though we knew that they
had pockets, we had never heard of their carrying money about with
them, and so we said nothing about it.
[13] Melospiza fasciata heermanni.
[Illustration: Song Sparrow.]
All we ever received from our little guests by way of payment was
song and twitter and pleasant company in the cold, sad part of the
year, but we thought that was good pay.
We set the table over and over again during the cold spell, watching
from the windows when it rained. The birds cared little if the crumbs
were wet. Every winter since then we have remembered to do the same
thing; and even in summer, especially in nesting time, we do not
forget the restaurant.
We usually set the table at night, the last thing before going to
bed, as some careful and busy house-wives do, and you should hear and
see the fun at sunrise. The table will be all covered with birds of
every size and color living near, and they are as good-natured as can
be. Food by the saucerful disappears in almost a twinkling, and the
birds surround the empty board when they are done, tamer than ever,
and asking in coaxing tones for "more."
There have come to be more birds in that corner of the yard than
anywhere else, just as you see a street thronged at meal-time about a
popular eating-house in the city. We have learned a great deal about
the tastes of different birds. Some of them have a "sweet tooth" as
truly as any child, for they always choose the cookies or gingerbread.
One day we thought we would see how far they really were civilized
in the matter of diet, and so we laid a mutton bone on the table. It
was a bone that had been cooked, and had just a suspicion of meat on
it left from our own dinner.
Along came the birds, of course, for they were always watching us,
canting their heads to get a good look at the strange object. "What
do you suppose it is?" they seemed to be asking each other. "Do you
think it is safe to taste?"
But they seemed to remember that we never played a joke on them when
they were hungry, and in a little while a sparrow pecked daintily at
the bone. After this they all fell to eating the meat as fast as they
could.
That was not the last bone that found its way to the birds'
restaurant. Now we put the bones all about in the apple trees, or
swing them on a string from the branches. It is great fun. If you can
spare a large beef bone that has some marrow in it, just offer it to
the birds in some quiet place. The first bird that gets to it will
put his head in at the round tunnel in the middle of the bone, where
the marrow is hidden, and you can come pretty near putting "salt on
his tail" without his knowing what you are about.
You have all read that queer song Mother Goose made about the
"blackbird pie." But that was a pleasant joke. The birds were never
baked at all. They were put under the crust alive and well, just to
surprise a great dinner party. It was only for ornament, as we put
flowers in a vase and set them on the table. Shut up in the dark, in
a great earthen pot, with just enough air for breathing coming in at
the small holes pricked in the crust, it was no wonder the "birds
began to sing" when the cover was lifted. Of course they all began to
fly around the room, they were so glad to be free once more and to
find that they were not "baked in a pie" at all.
It was a merry surprise for a great dinner party, and quite
satisfactory, since there was plenty of food to eat besides blackbird
pie. We never look at a field of blackbirds without thinking of the
old rhyme and stopping to count the birds, just to see if there are
exactly "twenty-four."
Here is a bit of rhyme in imitation of Mother Goose, which we fancy
will fit very well when birds are bigger than boys and have pot-pie
for dinner.
Sing a song o' sixpence;
A pocket full o' rye,
Four and twenty little boys
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened
The boys began to sing;
Wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before a king?
[Illustration]