ENCOURAGING BIRDS AROUND THE HOME 



By FREDERICK H, KENNARD 



NOW that our country has really 

 awakened to tiie importance of 

 bird life to the citizens, and at 

 last enacted some very wise legislation, 

 forbidding the killing of migratory and 

 insectivorous birds, putting migratory 

 game birds under Federal control, and 

 forbidding the importation of plumage 

 from abroad, public interest in birds and 

 their great economic value seems to have 

 been stirred as never before. 



Birds come north for the very special 

 purpose of finding a proper place for the 

 rearing of their young, and, this task ac- 

 complished, as autumn approaches, soon 

 depart in search of areas where there 

 will be throughout the winter plenty of 

 food and cover and a more congenial 

 climate. 



If we want to make our homes at- 

 tractive to birds, we must always keep 

 the above facts in mind. If in summer 

 we want to attract the migrants from the 

 South, as well as the permanent resi- 

 dents, we must furnish them with proper 

 places for the rearing of their young, 

 W'hich should include not only nesting 

 sites, but cover, food, and water; and if 

 in winter we want to keep some of the 

 permanent residents about our homes 

 and attract migrants from the North, we 

 must remember that they are again in 

 search of food and cover. 



Once having attracted the birds, a 

 sharp lookout must be kept in order to 

 protect them from their enemies — cats, 

 bird-hunting dogs, red squirrels, skunks, 

 foxes, and other predatory animals (not 

 forgetting the small boy that used to be 

 ubiquitous), English sparrows, homed 

 owls, and sometimes crows and jays, 

 cooper and sharp-shinned hawks, and 

 last, but not least, the black snake. 



HOW TO ATTRACT THU BIRDS 



To sum up, if we are to attract birds in 

 summer, we must furnish them with 

 proper nesting sites, cover, food, and also 



water; and if we want to keep them in 

 winter, we must again furnish them with 

 cover and food, and always protect them 

 from their enemies. 



The most important factor in attract- 

 ing birds is the supplying of cover suit- 

 able for their wants. With this properly 

 done, except in the case of birds that 

 nest about buildings or in holes, nature 

 will supply the nesting sites, as well as 

 take care of the food supply, except in 

 winter. 



At "The Pines," my place in Newton 

 Center, Mass.. we have had for eight 

 years under close observation about 44 

 acres, comprising three acres of lawn 

 dotted with a few old apple trees, six 

 acres of wet meadow, which are allowed 

 to grow up with tussocks of grass, cedars, 

 alders, wild roses, and the like, and the 

 remaining 35 acres divided into two areas 

 of about equal size. The first of these 

 areas, that about the house, is covered 

 with a growth of pines, hemlocks, ce- 

 dars, birches, and various other deciduous 

 trees, among which we have taken pains 

 to cultivate suitable coppice and under- 

 growth, while the second area, covered 

 with deciduous woods, is, on account of 

 a fire that ran through it a number of 

 years ago, almost devoid of the smaller 

 evergreens or protecting coppice and un- 

 dergrowth (see pages 162 and 163). 



In the first of these areas (page 162) 

 some thirty different species of birds 

 breed nearly every year, while in the sec- 

 ond area only from three to five different 

 species build their nests. 



Almost every one who lives in the 

 country can do something in the way of 

 attractive planting about his house and 

 grounds, and even in the more closely 

 settled suburbs almost every place, no 

 matter how small, can by judicious plant- 

 ing be made attractive to birds. Even a 

 back yard may in its limited way, with 

 proper treatment, be made a regular ren- 

 dezvous for birds in the vicinity. 



160 



