How to Attract the Birds 



bees and other insects to transfer the pollen of their 

 flowers. It is said that the cuckoo-pint or spotted 

 arum of Europe, a relative of our jack-in-the-pulpit, 

 actually poisons her messengers carrying seed, be- 

 cause the decaying flesh of the dead birds affords 

 the most nourishing food for her seed to germinate 

 in. Happily we have no such cannibalistic pest 

 here. Our wild trees, shrubbery, plants, and vines 

 are honorable partners of the birds. They feed 

 them royally, asking in return only that the undiges- 

 ted seeds or kernels which pass through the alimen- 

 tary canal uninjured may be dropped far away from 

 the parent plant, to found new colonies. For how 

 much of the earth's beauty are not birds, the seed- 

 carriers, responsible ! 



Up-to-date -farmers who wish to protect their 

 cultivated fruits have learned that birds actually have 

 the poor taste to prefer wild ones, and so they plant 

 them on the outskirts of the farm, along walls and 

 fences. They have also learned that many birds 

 puncture grapes and drink fruit juice simply because 

 they are thirsty. Pans kept filled with fresh water 

 compete successfully with the grape arbor. 



SAINTS AND SINNERS 



Hawks and owls may be so labeled, yet it would 

 be difficult, if not impossible, to convince some peo- 

 ple that there is a saint in the group. There is an 

 instinctive popular hatred of every bird of prey, a 

 hatred so unreasoning and unrelenting that it is well- 

 nigh impossible to secure legislation to protect some 

 of the farmers' most beneficial friends. After con- 



196 



