300 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



How to Attract the Song Birds Around the Home 



JOSEPH H. DODSON • 



IT is a comparatively cas\- matter to attract all of the tlies. gnats, etc.. and with a colon\- of these wonderful 

 song birds around vour home on account of the trees, birds you will not have a mosquito in your vicinity. And 

 shnibs, flowers, gardens and grass, and the natural if there is anything in the bird world that represents 

 heautv of the grounds. ( lur song birds (insectivorous home life, it is a colony of beautiful purple martins. Con- 

 birds) are a real asset and should" be protected from an tentment, happiness, prosperity is here and the cheerful 



economical standpoint, aside from their beauty and 



ll'iiitci 



at "Bird Lodge." Note the Food House 

 in the Foreground 



as the natural protectors of our trees, shrulis, forests, gar- 

 dens and greens from insect pests. The value of our 

 song birds to man is based ])rincipally on their feeding 

 habits. Their greatest help is through their activity in 

 eating harmful insects, their eggs and larvre. Without 

 this constant aid we would be powerless to protect our 

 trees and crops fnim the ravages of caterpillars, beetles, 



F,i"e ()/' Ruck Garden, Shon'ing a Bird Balh Made 

 from Solid Rock 



borers and such creatures. Vou cannot sjjray forest trees, 

 therefore the song birds (insectivorous birds) are their 

 only protectors. The jjurple martin is the most valuable 

 of all of our insectivorous birds. It is so preeminently 

 aerial that its food ncces.sarily consists of flying insects. 



Among these is the dreaded .Stegomyia. Every purple 

 martin will catch and consume on the average of 2.()(X) 

 mosquitoes a day, besides other annoying insects, such as 



^President of the Amrrican Audubon Association. 



social twitter of the martins and their industrious habits 

 are a continual sermon from the air to their l)rothers of 

 the earth. So those who love the martin fur liis cheery 

 social nature and his inestimable worth should do some- 

 thing at once to educate those who do not apjireciate 



Ceiiieiil l-iird Fath. Popular ivilli Song Birds 

 Feeunxi' It .Shiiil.s- Cradually from Fldge to Center 



this valuable bird. Martins live in coloiiies and are en- 

 couraged by the placing of colony houses. 



Our Agricultural Department reports that the loss to 

 our crops, gardens, trees and shrubs from injurious in- 

 sects in 1922 was $1,400,000,000. (The codling moth and 

 curculio a])ple pest cost us $12,000,000 a year in the re- 

 duced value of the apple crop, and more than $8,000,000 

 a year in the co.st of spraying the trees to keep them from 

 destroying even more.) The loss can be entirely elimi- 

 nated if we increase the number of our song birds to 

 what il was before the Iniilding of our great cities, and 

 the denuding of our forests, which have taken away the 

 birds' natural nesting sites. Even if a bird should' find 

 a hole in a tree suitable for a nesting site, the tree sur- 

 geon comes along and fills it with cement, lie does good 

 work bv saving the trees, but the birds are left without 



Feeding Table and Bird Balh 



places to l)uild nests. Therefore, it is necessary that we 

 should furnish them with man-made lumses and shelters 

 in which lo build their nests and raise their yotmg, and 

 with shcllcred feeding stations where the\- c.-ni find food 



