Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1916 — How to Attract Biords to our Homes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How to Attract Biords to our Homes

I Appreciation of their value as insect destroyers . jis growwg-~and the Department of Agri - ; culture \s distributing Valuable thfor- ; —vmmkron hbout them. J

By W. L. M’ATEE.

IRD lovers throughout the land are seeking ways and ! means of Increasing the (P V number of birds and of attrading them to the viclnfty of homes. While the basis for this movement is <fc||gßWa in part esthetic, to no small uSwmlIM& degree such efforts are 7 based on a growing appre-

ciation of the usefulness of birds as Insect destroyers. The increase of interest in wild birds throughout the United States during the past decade has been phenomenal, and organizations having for their chief object the care and protection of birds are numbered by hundreds, if not thousands. Civic leagues and women’s clubs have been especially active in attempts to attract birds to city parks and suburbs, with a view to bringing wild life to the doors of those denied the privilege of knowing it in wilder districts. Pood supply is the vital factor in bird life and the Boost important single offering we can make in our efforts to attract birds. It is important to note that an ample supply of food prior to and during the nesting season tends to increase the number of eggs laid and also the number of

broods in a season. Bird food may bo supplied in two ways—by planting trees, shrubs and herbs which produce seeds or fruits relished by birds, and by exposing food in artificial devices. The most familiar phase of the latter method is winter feeding. During the season when the natural food supply is at its lowest ebb birds respond most readily to our hospitality. Winter feeding has become very popular, and the result has been to bring about better understanding between birds and human kind. The winter foods commonly used include suet or other fat, pork rinds, bones with shreds of meat, cooked meats, worms, cut up apples, birdseed, buckwheat, crackers, crumbs, cocoanut meat, cracked corn, t/roken dog biscuits or other bread, hemp seed, millet, nut meats of all kinds (especially peanuts), whole or rolled oats, peppers, popcorn, pumpkin or

squash seeds, raw or boiled rice, sunflower seeds, and wheat. The methods of making these supplies available to birds are as varied as the dietary itself. A device very commonly used is the food trhy or shell This may be put on a tree or pole, by a window or at some other

point about a building or strung upon a wire or other support on which it may be run back and forth. The last device is useful in accustoming birds to feed nearer and nearer a comfortable observation point. A fault with food shelves is that wind and rain may sweep them clean and snow may cover the food. These de-

sects may be obviated in part by adding a raised ledge about the margin or by plaoing the shelf in the shelter of a wall or shielding it with evergreen branches on one or more sides. Feeding devices not affected by the weather are preferable. An excellent one is a cocoanut with a hole bored in one end. The cavity is filled with chopped suet and nuts or other food mixture, and the nut is suspended by a wire from a limb. The size of the hole regulates the character of the guests; if small, large birds cannot gobble the supply, and the cocoanut meat as well as the stuffing is eaten. Cans with small openings may be substituted for cocoanuts. Food baskets of any desired size made of wire netting or a metal grating may be hung up or fastened to the trunk of a tree. Food mixtures in melted fat may be poured into holes made in a branch or piece of timber or in cracks of bark or over evergreen branches. Ail of these devices minimize or obviate the disturbing effects of stormy weather. Game birds and sparrows may be provided with feeding places by erecting low hutches or making wigwam-

like shocks of corn or grain sheaves under which food may be scattered. The opening should be to the south. Those who desire to have about their homes should not feel that their power to attract them is gone when winter is over. Winter feeding easily passes into summer feeding, and experience proves that some birds gladly avail themselves throughout the year of this easy mode of getting a living. We have thus far considered ways of feeding birds titbits we ourselves have gleaned. We may feed them by another method, by cultivating their natural food plants and allowing them to reap the harvest in their own way. Less has been done in this respect for the true seed-eating birds than for those fond of pulpy fruits. The reason in obvious, however. Our seedeating birds largely patronize weeds, which we do not wish to cultivate, while the , fruit eaters depend upon many plants which we hold in such esteem for their ornamental value that they are generally cultivated. Something can be done to attract the Beed eaters about our homes, however. A number of commonly cultivated. plants, belonging to the same groups as those upon which the birds feed extensively in nature, pro-

duce good crops of seeds. The height and stiffness of stalk of varieties of sorghum should make these abundant seeders valuable in winter. Japanese millet holds Its seeds well, and, if planted thickly where it can grow up through a horizontal lattice work, makes a valuable cover and feeding place for winter birds. .Canary grass and various species of Pennisetum also are good for seed-eating’ birds. Alders and birches bear in their numerous cones a supply of seeds which are eagerly sought for by redpolls, siskins and goldfinches during the winter. We can cater to still another group of birds by planting

ashes and box elders. The winged fruits of these trees are opened and the seeds eaten by pine and evening grosbeaks, the visits of these birds being largely regulated by the supply of this kind of food. Larches, pines, and other conifers are attractive to crossbills as well as to some of the species just mentioned. Birds devour cultivated fruit principally because the processes of cultivation diminish the wild, supply. The presence of wild fruit in a locality always serves to protect domestic varieties, especially when the wild trees or shrubs are of the same kind as the cultivated ones and ripen earlier. The following shrubs may be planted for the use of the birds for the protection of cultivated fruits: Wild strawberry, wild blackberry, wild pepper, red and white mulberry, Juneberry, wild red, Japanese, Sangent and Mahaleb cherry, fly honey-

suckle, red berried elder, silky-leaved pear and crabapple. Although a considerable number of our native birds build their nests on the ground, the majority place them in trees or shrubs, either in holes or on the limbs or in crotches. Shrubbery and trees for nesting sites, therefore, are essential for making a place attractive to birds, and a double purpose is served if the kinds planted are chosen from the list of fruit-bear-ing species already given. Shrubs should be allowed to form thickets and should be pruned back severely when young so as to produce numerous crotches. The most common errors in putting out bird houses are choosing poor locations and supplying too many boxes. A bird house in a bald, glaring location is not nearly so likely to attract tenants as one in a partially shaded place, martins, only, prefer a house standing apart from trees. Entrances to boxes should be shel-

tered by projecting roofs and should face away from the prevailing wind and rain storms. If we would protect ground-nesting birds, as bobolinks, meadow larks and bobwhites, grass In the nesting fields must not be cut during the breeding season.

Food Hopper With Detachable Roof.

Cocoanut Larder.

Food House.

Food Tray.

Feeding Stick.

Food House on Pivot.

Food Shelf.