The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-07-07
MAKING FRIENDS WITH BIRDS
BY S. Louise Patterson

One day last spring, a little girl
asked me if it were true that robins
liked to eat other things than worms.
| replied that robins would eat fruit
when they were thirsty if they could
find no water.
"Oh, just when they're thirsty" she
exclaimed in a tone of surprise. Then
| had better give them a basin OF
water, because father gets terribly
provoked at the robins when he sees
them in our cherry tree or in the
strawberry patch"
| told her that in the strawberry
patch robins were much more likely
to hunt the grubs and cutworms that
injure the roots of the vines than to
eat the Strawberries, but that they did
like cherries. l asked her if she
would like to make friends with the
birds and fix a place in her garden
where they could drink when they
were thirsty or battle and splash
about in warm weather. She was de-
lighted with the idea Of making some
thing useful and wanted to know how
Used to help her make one and accord.
ingly l went to her home one morn
ing soon after our conversation To-
gether we gathered several baskets
near her home, then we selected a
spot in an open space in her garden
where we set up a pyramid about
three feet high. After we had fin
ished it we filled a big fower-pot
saucer with water and placed it on
top of the pyramid.
When the warm weather came; the
birds used this bath so much that the
water had to be changed several times
a day. But the pleasure of watching
the different birds that came to the
garden to quench their thirst and
splash about in the cool water more
than compensated for the slight trou
BILE of filling the bath. The other
members of the child's family became
as much interested in their feathery
friends as the little mason who had
built the bath, and the practical father
observed with satisfaction that his
fruit trees were less attractive to the
birds.
Some of the other children in the
neighborhood became anxious to be-
friend the birds and one Of the best
results Of their new interest was that
the small boys were less tempted to
rob nests for the sake of collecting
eggs, which were perfectly useless to
them, and they became more inter-
ested to care for the mother birds in
tn nesting season and to protect their
young, for all the children had be-
come anxious to have as many bird
neighbors as possible frequent their
gardens.
One of the small boys was an only
child whose hobby had been the col
lecting of minerals and quartz. He
decided to make a practical use Of
his most treasured possession, four
~hexagonal blocks which had been
brought to him from the Giants Cause
way. With his fathers help he piled
these heavy blocks Of basalt one on
top of another and made a perfect
column about two and a. half feet
high. On top of it he kept a large
brown flower pot aucer filled with
water; thus the use Of what had been
a souvenir OF questionable worth help
ed to make a refreshing bath for the
birds and added a real ornament to
his mothers garden. And what Is
more important. his parents vel
pleased to observe that the child's old
desire to collect and possess mineral
specimens was becoming secondary
to an active, sympathetic interest In
the beautiful little living creatures that
enjoyed coming to the garden; and
deeper love and greater consideration
for all dependent creatures became
evident. Thus the tender. cherishing
instinct ~ developed In several chill
dren through . little girls, interest
In the fare OF robins.