In the last number of Birds and Nature we saw that the debt we owe the birds is by no means a small one, but is really greater than we can hope ever to fully repay. It is a debt of gratitude for the good work the birds do in keeping checked the increase of insect life which would surely become a great pest if very numerous; it is a debt of money value for the fruits and grains and other products of the earth which the birds make possible by eating the insects which eat the plants; it is a debt of love for the pleasure and inspiration which they bring with each returning springtide, for the courage which their cheerful endurance of all sorts of bad weather inspires. There is one best way to pay the debt, and that way is to take such a lively interest in the birds that we shall want to know all about their lives and as much as we can learn about the language they speak and the thoughts they have. When we have such an interest in them we shall not want to kill them, but we shall do what we can to make them love us and trust us so they will no longer want to fly away when we come near them. We shall be paying the debt we owe to the birds when we try to make friends with them, for there is nothing greater or better than true friendship, nothing that counts for more where friends are so greatly needed. Our first effort at making friends with the birds is usually to give them something to eat, forgetting or not knowing that what is best for us may not be good for them. After we have watched them getting their own meals we shall know what each bird likes best, and then, instead of frightening them away with food that they cannot eat, we shall draw them to us by offering them what they like best. We may think that we shall be able to learn all about the birds if we can get them into a cage and study them there. But birds are not free to do what they want to do when they are caged up, and there are many interesting things about them that we shall never know if we study only the caged ones. What we want to know is the bird just as he is as a free bird in the fields and woods. We shall not be paying much of the debt if we cage him up even to study his habits.