If we like to hear birds sing, if we enjoy the beauty of their coats, and if they are valuable neighbors from the standpoint of dollars and cents, then it is worth while to consider how we may have more of them about our homes. Every girl can do a great deal to attract birds. First, by putting up nesting boxes. Since the people of our country have destroyed so much of our native forests and undergrowth, have drained so many of our swamps, and have cultivated so much of the grassy prairie, many birds have difficulty in finding suitable places to nest. This can be remedied in the case of birds that nest in cavities, such as the House Wren, Tree Swallow, Purple Martin, Screech Owl, Chickadee, and Bluebird, by putting up nesting boxes. For those that nest in shrubbery, like the Catbird and the Brown Thrasher, shrubs and vines may be planted so that the desirable tangle may be had. [Illustration: A MOTHER MALLARD AND HER FAMILY The Wild Mallard is the original of many of the domesticated ducks. Range: Northern Hemisphere.] Second, by putting out bird baths. In this improved country of ours, there are doubtless large areas in which wild birds have difficulty in finding suitable places to bathe. Artificial bird baths are more attractive to birds in the summer time than during cold weather, but they will be used even in winter if kept free from ice. Do not place a bird bath so close to a shrub, tree, or building that a house cat may stalk the birds from behind it. The house cat is probably the worst enemy of our native songbirds. Third, by establishing feeding stations, especially in winter when snow covers the natural food of so many birds. When birds have enough to eat they rarely suffer severely from the cold. Fourth, by cooperating with the authorities in seeing that the laws protecting the birds are enforced. The Audubon Society has done much effective work along these lines, and a Girl Scout should join this society, whose headquarters are 1974 Broadway, New York City. Amphibians _All nature is so full that that district produces the greatest variety which is most examined._ --_Gilbert White, Natural History of Selborne._