WORK OF THE MERIDEX BIRD CLUB 



151 



feeding that the boys adopted consisted 

 in tying suet to the trees. They secured 

 a large quantity of suet from the local 

 butcher and fastened portions of it with 

 several pieces of string so that birds could 

 not take it away all at once, and 

 high enough from the 

 groinid to be out of the 

 reach of the dogs. Suet 

 is a most valuable sub- 

 stitute for insect food 

 and one which many 

 birds appreciate. 



Another and rather 

 unique idea of a " food 

 tree" seems also to 

 "take" very well with 

 the birds. Into large 

 pots we put things 

 that birds particularly 

 like — suet, hemp seed, 

 bread crumbs and other 

 kinds of small food — 

 and when this is boiling 

 hot a number of the 

 towns people pour it on 

 the branches of dis- 

 carded Christmas trees 

 and scrubby spruces 

 and hemlocks that have 

 been cut down and 

 planted in the garden. 

 From this cafeteria 

 each bird takes what 

 he likes best. 



The weathercock 

 food house, the design 

 for which was kindly 

 sent to me by Mr. 

 William Dutcher, has 

 been successfully used 

 also. As the name im- 

 plies, this food liouse 

 moves with the wind 

 and the entrance is al- 

 ways away from the 

 storm. The movement 



of the house does not seem to disturb 

 the birds in the least. 



Another contrivance that we have for 

 birds in winter is the window box. Ours 

 is a plain glass case with a wooden frame 

 which has at the top a groove into which 



111 4f\i\im^' I A 





.^ 



Blue jays feeding in a weathercock food house. Birds are like human 

 beings in that their material wants are the same, something to eat 

 and drink and a sheltered home in which to raise their young. The 

 movement of the weathercock house does not disturb the birds 



