Feeding Winter Birds 



By I. N. Mitchell 



After the long, leafless winter, the heart of man longs for the April rains to 

 chase away the ice and snow. 



Those harbingers of spring, the robin, bluebird and meadow-lark are greeted 

 with as genuine a welcome as meets the return of a long-gone friend. After them 

 comes the procession of the birds, slow and straggling at first, then faster and 

 denser as April gives way to May ; then a countless throng flitting, darting, flying, 

 sweeping northward, rollicking, singing, visiting as they go. The dullest and 

 busiest of people see robins then ! Soon the flood has swept by. The few scores 

 of resident birds become commonplace and the southern migration, beginning 

 in August, goes on so quietly and is so prolonged that it attracts comparatively 

 little attention. 



Then comes the most nearly birdless season. A few hardy wayfarers, either 

 winter residents or visitors from the f^r north, glean from berries, buds and seeds, 

 from wintering insect eggs, and pupae not hidden by the great snow blanket, a 

 more or less satisfactory living. 



The increased interest in all birds in recent years, has led, in many places, to 

 a special interest in these winter birds, and efforts are made to attract them about 

 the home not so much for the sake of the birds, for they seldom need human aid, 

 as for the human beings caged in their homes by cold and storm. Then the visit 

 of a chickadee to the window-sill is an event. It gladdens the heart, quickens the 

 sympathies with the outside world and gives a new joy in living. 



It is coming to be a fairly frequent sight to see a bird table erected near 

 the home and spread daily or at short intervals with some such materials as grain, 

 cracked corn, cracked nuts, hay seed, crumbs and table scraps, bits of meat 

 especially suet and a dish of water. The table should be fastened to a tree, on 

 a high post out of the reach of cats, or against a convenient window sill. It will 

 be difficult, if not impossible, to keep the English sparrow away except by means 

 of poison or a gun. One would like to be merciful, and let the little beasts feed 

 and welcome were it not for harboring tramps and increasing the troubles of the 

 spring-time nesting. 



A suggestion that is worth trying is reported to have worked well in New 

 Jersey and Illinois. 



A board six inches wide and two feet long is hinged at one end to the window 

 sill in such a way as to allow the outer end of the board to drop. The board is 

 held about level by a string fastened to its outer end and to the top of the window. 

 In this string, i. e., forming a part of it, a thin or light spiral spring is fastened. 

 The food and water dish are placed at the outer end of the board. When a bird 

 alights the feeding board teeters up and down. The author of the scheme states 

 that other birds will feed at the table, but that the English sparrow will not visit 

 it a second time. 



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