1 88 HOW TO ATTRACT BIRDS TO HOUSES 



crumbs and uncooked breakfast cereals scattered on 

 porches or placed in shallow boxes; some species are 

 partial to buckwheat. Almost all winter birds will eat 

 suet, pieces of which may be nailed against trees or 

 posts. 



The best way of all to bring summer birds is by sup- 

 plying them with fresh water, which should be put in 

 shallow dishes placed on the ground. Mr. Ridgway 

 says that in forty-eight hours after he has prepared 

 drinking and l)athing places for them he believes all 

 the birds within a radius of half a mile know of it. He 

 also says that at times they come in such numbers that 

 they fight for place at the dishes. As showing the 

 results of systematic and continued kindness to our 

 wild birds, on Mr. Ridgway's place at Brookland 

 (comprising less than half an acre) he last summer 

 counted twenty-seven species in half an hour, and 

 while watering his ferns with a garden hose a Mag- 

 nolia Warbler flew into the spray. 



In trying to attract the songsters one must not 

 neglect to exclude, as far as possible, cats and English 

 Sparrows. Ways of discouraging the latter are given 

 on page 97. 



