NEED AND VALUE OF ATTRACTING BIRDS 5 



some localities the bob-white was apparently en- 

 tirely exterminated, Mr. Forbush estimating that 

 it had been reduced at least ninety-five per cent. 



Effect of feeding Birds 



The important part of the report is that which 

 shows the protection afforded the birds by feed- 

 ing them. Mr. Forbush says : " Reports that have 

 come in from all portions of the state lead to the 

 conclusion that large numbers of birds have been 

 saved from starvation during the winter by peo- 

 ple who have fed them. Most of the reports indi- 

 cate that where birds were well fed, nuthatches 

 and downy woodpeckers wintered very well ; else- 

 where they had a hard time. The trees were 

 frozen so hard that drilling into them for insects 

 was difficult, and woodpeckers have been operat- 

 ing on cedar rails and posts, and under the eaves 

 of log and slab shanties in the woods. My own 

 experience indicates that nearly all birds were 

 scarce except where they were fed. Many people 

 were feeding them, and they were attracted to 

 these feeding-places, so that they appeared at 

 such places to be in their usual numbers. 



" The mortality seems to have been least 

 among those familiar species that seek the habi- 

 tations of man, thus finding the food exposed for 

 them ; and greatest among those like the mead- 



