1104 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



length of the window sill or only a part; but the larger through the open even to get food placed for them. 



it is, the more birds will feed together, for our native Another simple form of feeding shelf for such a place 



birds all want plenty of elbow room while feeding. A in the yard is made from the top of a keg or barrel, 



narrow strip should be fastened to the edge of the shelf protected from the weather by a hood improvised from 



to keep the food from blowing ofif. At the westerly end barrel hoops and a piece of white cloth and covered 



a small evergreen tree or large branch should be fastened, with a few evergreen twigs, as here illustrated. The 



This offers shelter to the birds and proves as attractive front half of this may likewise be hinged to keep away 



as the food itself. It may be nailed to the window casing, the sparrows, and it may rest on a pivot and be provided 



or a hole may be bored in the shelf to hold it. It should with wings like a weather vane, so that it will always face 



be as large as can be conveniently held in place. away from the wind and snow. Various modifications 



An even better device than the window shelf is the of this device will undoubtedlv occur to the reader. 



If nothing but sparrows 

 come to be fed, one should 

 not get discouraged, be- 

 cause they will act as de- 

 coys and. eventually, their 

 chirping will call other 

 more desirable birds to the 

 feast. One need not fear 

 that they will drive the 

 nther birds away, for, next 

 to the chickadee, the 

 sparrow is the biggest cow- 

 ard of the lot. and fre- 

 (luently a single nuthatch 

 will put a whole flock of 

 them to route. 



window feeding box here 

 illustrated. An ordinary 

 soap box is used and the 

 bottom replaced by a pane 

 of glass so as to admit 

 plenty of light. One side 

 is then rested on the win- 

 dow sill and the inner end 

 nailed to the casing, while 

 the closed glass side faces 

 the north and the box 

 opens to the south. This 

 box has the advantage of 

 protecting the food from 

 the snow and ice so that it 

 is always available when 

 most needed. Evergreen 

 branches or a small tree 

 fastened nearby will help 

 its attractiveness. 



In many places house 

 sparrows are so numerous 

 that they will consume all 

 of tlie food as fast as it is 

 put out and leave none for 

 the native birds, so that it 

 is necessary to find some 

 way to curb their enthusi- 

 asm. A very simple, yet 

 effective way of protecting 

 the food from their depre- 

 dations is til hinge the front 

 half of the floor of the box 

 and support it at the 

 comers by weak springs 



so that when a bird alights it bounces up and down. 

 House sparrows are naturally so suspicious that when 

 they feel the shelf give way beneath them, they lose no 

 time in getting out nf the way and never stop long 

 enough to get any of the food. Our native birds, on the 

 other hand, are unsuspicious and accustomed to feeding 

 about the swaying branches of trees, so that the more the 

 shelf bounces, the more they seem to like it. 



In case there is not a 'satisfactory window at which to people of the city, is fast disappearing. But a severer 

 feed the birds, this box can he placed on a post in the yard economic loss will entail on tlie immense and rich olive 

 four or five feet from the ground. An evergreen tree, a ]>lantations lying on the stretch of plain between the sea 

 bit of shrubbery, or ,i [)ilc of brush should be in the and Lebanon. It takes vears before olive trees begin to 

 near vicinity to serve as a way station from the nearest bear, and the prosperity of thousands has depended on 

 trees, for most of the liiriK liesitate to fly long distances the crops of these orchards. 



AFTER YOU 

 A simple form of feeding slielf for the 



ard with a chickadee waiting 

 for a junco to Iniish. The shelf is made from tlie top of a small 

 barrel; the hood from i)ieces of the lioops covered with white cloth 

 and decorated with hemlock. The shelf is placed on a post four or five 

 feet from the grotind located preferably near shrubbery or evergreens. 



XOTES 



Early in November the 

 I'l.iy Scouts of Mt. \'ernon, 

 X. v.. were told by Mr. 

 Rockart, of the Shade Tree 

 Commission, how the 

 scouts could build bird 

 houses under his supervi- 

 sion to be sold to the resi- 

 dents of Mount N'ernon, 

 thus keeping more birds 

 with us through the winter. 

 The birds are nf untold 

 worth to the city, not only 

 for their beauty and songs, 

 but particularly for their 

 great assistance in fight- 

 ing all kinds of insects 

 injurious to the trees of the citv. 



SIR 



FELLING EGYPT'S TREES 



T 



'ME trees of Syria are falling fast before Turkish 

 axes, and their loss will be heavily felt when the 

 war is over. Owing to lack of fuel, the fine pine 

 forest on the outskirts of Beirut, a popular resort for the 



