1906.] BIRDS ABOUT OUR FARM HOMES. I93 



enough to enter the sheds even when the fowls are there, and 

 they will always resort to them in the early morning before 

 the hens are out. Birds readily pass through ordinary poultry 

 netting, and when once in the sheds they are safe from the at- 

 tacks of cats and hawks. Those who wish to provide any food 

 more attractive than the above, have their choice of the various 

 seeds sold at the bird stores. 



Farmers should always grow sunflowers for the fowls. 

 These will attract goldfinches ; sunflower heads or the detached 

 seeds make a good winter bird food. If the farmer wishes 

 other bird food, he can give one or more of the children a 

 small patch of land near the house on which to raise Japanese 

 millet. This is merely a cultivated and improved variety of 

 barnyard grass (a common weed) and sparrows seem to be 

 fond of it. If sown broadcast on rich, moist soil, it will grow 

 from five to seven feet in height, and the large seed heads will 

 supply an immense quantity of seed. It takes but three or four 

 square rods of land to produce all the seed one will need for 

 birds in winter. A bushel or two ought to suffice for the birds 

 during an ordinary winter. 



Winter is the time to feed jays and crows. If they do not 

 molest the smaller birds, they can do no harm in winter, and 

 they may do much good. In Massachusetts the jays are al- 

 ready learning to eat the larvae of that notorious pest, the 

 brown-tail moth, which hibernates in winter in " nests " upon 

 the limbs and twigs. 



Hang up a bit of worthless meat in a tree. It should be 

 high enough from the ground to be out of reach of dogs and 

 far enough from the house so that the cautious crow will trust 

 his precious skin within the distance. The skinned carcass of 

 a fox or cat will do very well ; but it will not last long after the 

 crows find it. It should be so placed that they can find no con- 

 venient roost within reach of it, for it will then last the longer 

 and keep more crows from starvation. When the snow is deep 

 they will resort to it, and when the ground is more or less bare, 

 they will still remain and hunt field mice and hibernating in- 

 sects in the fields or the shrubbery along walls and fences. 



Woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees are all attracted 



by animal food. Juncos and tree sparrows will eat it during 



deep snows when their usual food is buried. Unsalted bones 



with meat, fat, or marrow attached, beef or mutton tallow, fat 



Agr. — 13 



