146 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXVI 



BIRDS OF A SUBURBAN GARDEN 



By R. Owen Merriman. 



EVER since the days of Rev. Gilbert White, 

 observers have realized the importance of 

 records of the natural history of limited areas ; 

 and in ornithology local lists have been made and 

 published for very many localities. These lists 

 are nearly all for comparatively large areas, a 

 farm of many acres being the smallest area which 

 observers seem inclined to treat as a unit. The 

 writer and his neighbor, W. F. Ambrose, having 

 been compelled for reasons of health to limit their 

 observations chiefly to one garden, have been 

 pleased to find the list of species identified within 

 its boundaries grow to unexpected dimensions; 

 and they have wondered whether their location is 

 especially favorably situated for such observations 

 or whether similar lists could be made for other 

 areas of similar size. Those who have kept 

 records for small gardens may be glad to compare 

 this list with theirs, as the writer would certainly 

 be glad to do. 



This garden is situated in a suburb of Hamilton, 

 Ontario, Canada, on the Niagara escarpment, and 

 about three hundred yards south of its edge, two 

 hundred and fifty feet above the level of Lake 

 Ontario. The escarpment here forms the south 

 limit of the city of Hamilton, which lies below and 

 extends northward to its harbour, two miles away. 

 The land on the top of the escarpment is gently 

 rolling; and is partly built up for half a mile from 

 the edge. This suburban district has many trees; 

 but to the south the farm lands have few orchards 

 and fewer wood-lots. The nearest water is a 

 small stream a mile away. On three sides of this 

 garden there are houses within one hundred feet; 

 but on the west there are only one or two houses 

 within a quarter of a mile. On this side lies a 

 meadow, beyond which runs a long private avenue 

 of Norway spruce, horse-chestnut, maple and 

 elm. To this open, quiet space, and to the fact 

 that there is little traffic on the street to the east 

 of the garden, much of its attractiveness to birds 

 may be due. 



The garden itself is a rectangle, two hundred 

 and fifty feet by one hundred and sixty feet, or 

 about five-sixths of an acre. Near the north 

 boundary is a large brick house with a small out- 

 house; and near the middle of the west boundary 

 is a small, low cottage. On the north half of the 

 area are eighteen small trees, maples, horse- 

 chestnuts, one Lombardy poplar, and fruit-trees; 

 and around the house are a few shrubs, three 

 clumps of staghorn sumach {Rhus typhina) merit- 



ing special notice. A few flowers and vegetables 

 are also grown. The grass on the north half of 

 the area is kept as a mown lawn, but on the south 

 half most of it is cut only once during the summer. 

 Overhanging the roof of the above-mentioned 

 cottage is the only large tree in the area, a white 

 oak; and nearby is a ten -year-old elm. Along 

 the south boundary is a widely-spaced row of j 

 Norway spruce. The most important feature of 

 the garden is a thicket which extends along the 

 west boundary, forming the south end of a thicket 

 which follows this fence for nearly two hundred 

 yards. This thicket, here about twenty feet 

 wide and fifteen feet high, is composed chiefly of 

 wild plums, but includes seedling pear and cherry 

 trees in bearing, many seedling maples, wind- 

 sown from a tree just over the west edge of the 

 area, sweet brier and rugosa roses, and bittersweet 

 and Virginia creeper climbing some of the trees. 

 The thicket is not pruned or raked, the carpet 

 of leaves and the many dead twigs and branches 

 proving definite attractions. It is in this thicket 

 that most of the observations are made, especially 

 during the seasons of bird migration. 



During the winter, supplies of food are available 

 in the area for such species as will accept them. 

 Sumach and bittersweet have been mentioned 

 already. Two inverted feeding-boards built after 

 the design of W. E. Saunders are kept filled with 

 seeds and suet, and seeds and table-scraps are j 

 sprinkled on the ground. House Sparrows are 

 discouraged with trap and gun. It is during the 

 spring migration that the largest number of species 

 is observed ; but all that can be done to encourage 

 'the visits of migrants is to keep the garden as 

 quiet as possible, to delay raking and other gar- 

 dening, and to discourage the visits of neighbors' 

 cats. In May it is not unusual to observe twenty 

 species in the garden in one day; and in five hours 

 on May 20, 1920, thirty-four species were identified 

 by one observer while seated in one spot. During 

 the breeding season, nesting material attracts 

 some individual birds; and nesting-boxes of 

 various sizes have been erected in suitable sites 

 The two bird-baths which are kept filled in all 

 but freezing weather are known to have been 

 used by about twenty species; by some only for 

 drinking. Far fewer birds are recorded during 

 the fall migration than during the spring, partly 

 because of the greater difficulty of distinguishing 

 between similar species in fall plumage, and partly 

 because the trees are in fuller leaf. 



