NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



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A good feeding station may be made by erecting 

 a platform on poles, or suspended from a tree, and roofed 

 with reeds, rushes, or thatch. If a 6-inch board is nailed 

 around the four sides of the platform, the food will 

 not be blown off by wind, and the roof will prevent 

 it getting wet. Any sorts of small seeds, chaff, finely 

 crushed mealies, coarse meal, broken 

 sunflower seeds, scraps of bread, 

 vegetables, and in fact any soft edible 

 substance, whether animal or veget- 

 able, would provide good winter food 

 for birds. 



Instead of a platform, a clearing 

 may be made on the ground for the 

 food. The disadvantage of this, 

 however, is — rats and mice have 

 access to it. 



When a natural water supply is 

 not within reasonable distance, water 

 must be provided. A dearth of water 

 in summer often induces birds to 

 attack soft, juicy fruits. 

 Swallows and martins are amongst the finest of insect 

 killers. They take the mature insects on the wing, 

 whereas the majority of other birds feed on the larvae. 

 In destroying adult female insects they eliminate the 

 potential mothers of untold hosts of larvae, hence 

 every possible effort should be made to encourage 

 them to breed on farms. To accomplish this desirable 

 end, suitable nesting boxes should be affixed on the 

 walls and roof of the homestead and outhouses, and 



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A Pan of mud and 

 another of water 

 for the use of 

 swallows and 

 martins in nest 

 building. 



