How to Attract the Birds 



are among the many wild and cultivated trees, shrubs 

 and vines, whose fruit attracts the birds. Some berries 

 and seeds ripen early in summer, some in autumn, others 

 through the winter and last until the migrants 



of the following spring 

 eagerly bolt them on 

 their way North. 



In the flower garden 

 many seeds are pecked 

 at, but the sunflowers', 

 which give all the finch 

 tribe a rich feast, are 

 prime favourites. Gold- 

 finches, however, ap- 

 parently prefer the blue 

 corn-flowers or ragged 

 sailors, which should 

 be sown in a corner of 

 the wild garden if not 

 for their beauty's sake 

 then certainly for their 

 seeds. 



That jewelled atom, the ruby-throated humming 

 bird, delights in so many flowers and plays so im- 

 portant a part in their cross-fertilization that he 

 requires a separate chapter. 



Birds can endure intense cold on full stomachs, 

 but their winter larder must often be very lean. 

 Never is hospitality so keenly appreciated as then ; 

 never are birds so welcome to us. Trimmings of 

 beefsteak, lumps of suet and a rind of pork tied on 

 the branches of trees near enough to the home to 

 be watched by its inmates, attract some very inter- 



Photograph by Brown^ll 



Bittersweet berries that furnish fall 

 provender for the birds 



12 



