AN EFFICIENT STUDENT AND PROTECTOR OF BIRDS 241 



In an evergreen on the edge of a 

 much travelled path, bine jays nested, 

 and chipping sparrows built in the rose 

 covered arch at the entrance to the 

 garden. 



Throughout the thirty-four acres 

 about fifty Berlepsch nesting boxes of 

 various sizes are distributed. These 

 houses are scientifically correct, and 

 have had for occupants hairy wood- 

 peckers, bluebirds, nuthatches, flickers 

 and screech owls. 



Club, and while the writer would like 

 to describe the garden, space forbids. 

 He would, however, emphasize the fact 

 that the lovely garden never needs 

 spraying. The birds, in return for pro- 

 tection, keep it free from destructive 

 insects. 



All last winter Mr. Thompson fed 

 a covey of twenty-four quail. This 

 summer a pair nested close to the 

 house. 



The success of this bird sanctuary 





MR. THOMPSON IN A PICTURESQUE PART OF HIS BIRDLAND. 



Colony houses erected for purple 

 martins have not yet been occupied, 

 but this fall Mr. Thompson has made 

 the entrances one and seven-eighths 

 inches in diameter, large enough for 

 martins but too small for starlings. 



Early in the spring Mr. Thompson 

 experimented by tying together the 

 branches of shrubs and of bushes about 

 three feet from the top, so as to make 

 artificial whorls to attract nest build- 

 ing birds. Last month of seven such 

 nesting sites two had been occupied 

 by catbirds. 



Mrs. Thompson, an enthusiastic 

 worker in her garden, is a member of 

 the newly formed Greenwich Garden 



is not due to magic. The secret con- 

 sists in keeping the place free from 

 homeless cats. Since March, Mr. 

 Thompson has caught twenty-nine 

 such cats in a box trap, and one skunk ; 

 but that is another story. Water is 

 always present for bathing and for 

 drinking. Nesting sites are allowed to 

 grow into tangles, and bird boxes are 

 properly placed on trees. Seeds and 

 suet are supplied during the winter. 

 This is the whole story. 



The reader may not possess thirty 

 odd acres but if his home is not in a 

 big city, and if he has a love for birds, 

 he can attract them about his house 

 and into the garden. 



