Photograph by B. S. Bowdish 
ON INTIMATE TERMS 
This jolly little white-breasted nuthatch has just taken a dainty 
These little birds are very clever 
climbers and can run up and down tree trunks in the most agile 
morsel from the lips of its friend. 
manner. 
a sheltered food-house that turns with 
the wind like a weather vane, so as to 
present always a lee side for the better 
protection of the birds. 
An ingenious bird lover has originated 
what he calls a food tree, a freshly cut 
evergreen, preferably spruce or fir, or 
perhaps a discarded Christmas tree, set 
up in some convenient place, over which 
has been poured hot, and then allowed to 
cool, a mixture of food that is attractive 
to both insectivorous and graminivorous 
birds, the receipt for which is given in 
the little book, ‘““How to Attract and Pro- 
tect Wild Birds”: 
“White bread (dried and ground), 4% 
oz.; meat (dried and ground), 3 oz.; 
hemp, 6 oz.; crushed hemp, 3 0z.; maw, 
Ss) Ozs,, poppy flour, 132 oz.; millet 
(white), 3 0z.; oats, 1% oz.; dried elder- 
berries, I 4 OZ. sunflower seeds, I oz.: 
ants’ eggs, 114 oz.” 
¢ 
170 
A SIMPLE AND AT- 
TRACTIVE FOOD 
SUPPLY 
Perhaps the simplest 
scheme of feeding, 
the least troublesome 
and the most attrac- 
tive to numbers of 
birds, is the tying of 
a piece of suet to a 
convenient limb, or 
perhaps to the balus- 
trade of one’s piazza, 
preferably in a pro- 
tected spot and one 
that can at the same 
time be easily watched 
from some window 
(see page 169). 
In all these food- 
} houses various kinds 
| of food should be sup- 
plied — suet, crumbs, 
millet, hemp, rape- 
, seed, canary-seed, and 
the like. On my place 
the birds have such a 
wealth of natural food 
that it is only during 
the winter storms and 
when the ground is 
covered with snow 
that they visit the 
food-houses ; but on many other places— 
as, for instance, in Meriden, N. H., 
where Mr. Baynes and the Meriden Bird 
Club are doing such good work—there 
have been food-houses erected on places 
along the main street, entirely apart from 
any protecting. shrubbery or natural food 
supply, and many of thesé food-houses 
seem to be well patronized both winter 
and summer. 
Water, particularly during the sum- 
mer months or times of drought, is, of 
course, necessary for the birds. If they 
can’t get it on your place, they will be 
forced to look elsewhere. The proper 
installment of a drinking fountain or 
bird bath is a simple affair, and one that 
is almost sure to prove a great attraction 
to the birds, as well as a never-failing 
source of entertainment to the owner. 
Drinking fountains may be purchased 
ready made or manufactured at home. 
