192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



there a larger bird population than the land will support un- 

 der ordinary conditions. How to do this with the least trouble 

 and expense becomes our next study. It is well to begin with 

 the winter birds, as they are of the utmost importance to the 

 farmer because of their destruction of weed seeds and hiber- 

 nating forms of insects. Insects lie dormant in some form for 

 six months or longer, each year, and so they cannot escape 

 the attacks of birds. The winter birds are obliged by necessity 

 to search them out. One bird can destroy, during a winter, at 

 least one hundred times as many insects in embryo as it can 

 in the same time in summer when the insects have grown 

 larger. In winter, the farmer is likely to have more time 

 to attend to birds than in summer, and at that time they most 

 need his help. No doubt thousands of birds are starved in 

 hard winters that might be saved with very little trouble on 

 the farmer's part. 



It is very desirable to keep with us, so long as possible, 

 the many species of sparrows which pass through the country 

 on their way south in the fall, and to persuade some of them 

 to remain through the winter. Careless husbandry tends to 

 bring these birds about ; they gather to feed upon weed seeds 

 in neglected gardens and fields. But if we wish to have them 

 continue this good work all through the winter and spring, 

 they must be provided with food and shelter to which they can 

 resort during snow storms and afterward while the snow lies 

 deep, or when all vegetation is covered with a coating of ice 

 from driving sleet or freezing rain. Unless they are thus 

 provided for, they must either go farther south or succumb to 

 the inclemency of winter. 



The sparrows prefer the shelter afforded by thickets, and 

 tangles of deciduous bushes and vines, such as are sometimes 

 found on the south side of a hill near the edge of a swamp, 

 A few brush piles will give them additional shelter. A little 

 chaff from the barn floor scattered in the dooryard, whenever 

 a flurry of snow covers the ground, will bring them about 

 the house. Where there are scratching sheds for poultry, with 

 the south side of each shed open except for its screen of poul- 

 try netting, the birds will find shelter and food on cold stormy 

 mornings. These sheds are strewn with straw or other litter, 

 which is likely to contain weed seeds, and fine particles of 

 grain overlooked by the fowls. In time the birds become bold 



