ORXlTliOLOGV 



353 



Is It Unwise to Feed the Birds? 



BY THE REVEREND MANLEY B. TOWNSEND, 

 SECRETARY AUDUBON SOCIETY OE NEW 

 HAMPSHIRE, NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



Frequently someone with more zeal 

 than knowledge denounces the winter 

 feeding of the birds as unnecessary and 

 economically unwise. Such an attitude 

 is a good illustration of the old saying, 



'THERE WAS A LITTLE DOWNY WOODPECKER 



AT HIS THANKSGIVING DINNER." 



Photograph by Mr. Harry G. Higbee. 



".V little knowledge is a dangerous 

 thing." The latest manifesto along this 

 line is by a Kansas professor, who de- 

 clares that feeding the birds has a ten- 

 dency to diminish their usefulness as 

 destroyers of insect eggs, pupae and 

 hibernating adults, as it removes the 

 necessity that is supposed to keep the 

 birds hustling. It would seem that 

 there might be something in this reas- 

 oning, but what are the facts? Birds 

 prefer their natural food. Where they 

 can get that in sufficient quantities 

 they do not care for food that we give 

 them. This is proved conclusively by 

 the fact that only winter feeding proves 

 successful. When spring comes, the 

 birds leave our food, no matter how 

 attractive it may be. Only dire neces- 

 sity drives them to our feeding sta- 

 tions. 



During the winter many birds have 

 difficulty in finding sufficient food. 

 Search as they may, the natural su])- 

 ply is inadequate. The spark of life 

 burns low and, alas ! too often flickers 

 out. With a full stomach a bird can 

 bid defiance to an}- weather. With fuel 

 under the boiler, sufficient steam is 



generated to keep the machinery run- 

 ning. Food placed out for the birds 

 may save many a little life by provid- 

 ing just the necessary additional fuel 

 needed to keep up the steam. The first 

 sharp edge of hunger blunted, the bird 

 will pay for his dinner by searching the 

 trees in the vicnity and destroying all 

 the insects that he can find, for he al- 

 ways prefers his natural food. It pays, 

 in dollars and cents, to feed the birds. 

 Every orchard should at regular inter- 

 vals have suet fastened to the trees, as 

 well as bird boxes for nesting pur- 

 ])Oses. 



There is pleasure in watching the 

 feeding birds — their beautiful colors, 

 their graceful movements, their engag- 

 ing ways, to say nothing of gaining 

 their confidence and perhaps persuad- 

 ing them to light upon us and take 

 food from our hands. There is a joy 

 in such companionship, a deep satis- 

 faction in ministering to a dependent 

 life. 



On Thanksgiving Day, as I sat down 

 to dinner, I glanced out of the window 

 into the apple tree. There was a little 

 downy woodpecker at his Thanksgiv- 

 ing dinner of suet (we both had suet 

 pudding that day) and my heart was 

 the lighter and my Thanksgiving the 

 brighter becatise I had a tiny feathered 

 guest to enjoy my bounty. Try it for 

 vourself and see if this is not so. 



The Birds of Connecticut. 



Bulletin 20 of the State Geological and 

 Xatural Hi.story Survey, issued by the 

 State Library at Hartford, and entitled 

 "The Birds of Connecticut," is a three 

 hundred and seventy page book by John 

 H. Sage, Secretary of the American 

 Ornithologists Union, Dr. Louis B. 

 Bishop, and Walter P. Bliss, M. A. An 

 annotated list of the appearance of the 

 birds makes up the first part of the vol- 

 ume, the second part being devoted to 

 economic ornithology' under the editor- 

 ship of Dr. Bishop. There is also a valu- 

 able bibliographv in connection with the 

 work— H. O. H.' 



A new study by the Danish natural- 

 ist, H. Blegvad. shows that the chief 

 food of the creatures that live on the 

 sea floor is the fragments of dead or 

 dying animals and plants that drop 

 down on them from above. Next to 

 this in imjiortance come the growing 

 plants of the ocean. 



