Cornell Study Clubs 1213 



Study of the winter birds in their relation to agriculture 



Birds are few in number, but their very rarity makes them more interest- 

 ing as a study, and in general the birds that brave the winter are more 

 confiding and familiar during that season than at any other. A " free 

 lunch " placed where they may enjoy it safely will, if regularly offered, 

 attract nearly every resident species during the course of the winter. 



Bits of suet or unsalted meaty bones, which may be obtained from the 

 scrap meats of the butcher, should be tied or wired to the underside of 

 a branch or nailed to the trunk of a tree as a special invitation to the wood- 

 peckers, chickadees, brown creepers, and nuthatches, who, being acrobats, 

 are able to feed comfortably in positions impossible to the sparrows, jays, 

 and crows, who might otherwise leave their table bare. Experience has 

 proved that feeding the birds does not cause them to relax their labor 

 of clearing trees of the eggs and the larvse of harmful insects, which food 

 they seem to prefer, taking the suet and meats as a sort of dessert. 



For the seed-eating birds, a shelf placed for the purpose on some sunny 

 porch or window sill, beyond the reach of cats, is a good place to scatter 

 crumbs from the table, small grains, or the swept-up chafE and seeds 

 that have rattled from the hay fed to the horses or cattle. 



The fortunate owners of evergreen windbreaks and shade trees should 

 be observant of them when the cold is especially severe. At such places 

 and at such a time the rarer visitants from the North appear : red crossbills 

 or their brothers of the white-barred wings may come for a day or two 

 and rifle every cone of its seeds; or the pine grosbeak may take a share 

 of the feast; the wee kinglets, particularly the golden-crown, may be seen 

 searching the needles and the small twigs for eggs or for aphids or other 

 small insects. A few seeds scattered under or near the trees will make 

 these favorite haunts of the northern birds even more attractive. 



SPRING WORK 



Gardening 



Almost innumerable are the lessons, experiments, and tasks that 

 Mother Nature makes ready in the springtime to busy the minds and bodies 

 of all who are so fortunate as to live in the country. More than 

 ever at this season, 



" The world is so full of a number of things, 

 I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." 



Everything is wakening to new life and action — many things so useful 

 to man that all the world must have them in order to live, and some 

 things so harmful that, unless they are intelligently fought and conquered. 



