164 Wild Bird Guests 



the mice cannot get at them. Next spring, if a 

 late snowstorm comes, we tie these berries to 

 the branches of trees and shrubs in the gardens, 

 where they are simply gobbled up by hungry 

 robins, bluebirds, waxwings and others whose 

 natural food supply has been cut off or curtailed 

 by the storm. Meal worms are even more 

 desirable as bird food at such times, but few 

 people have a good stock of them on hand and 

 they are very expensive when bought from cage- 

 bird dealers. As it is quite a simple matter to 

 raise these so-called "worms," almost any of 

 us can be prepared to care for the insectivorous 

 birds made temporarily destitute by the coming 

 of late snowstorms. The writer, in anticipation 

 of the perils of such storms, rears meal worms 

 according to a simple method recommended by 

 Professor Clifton F. Hodge, who in his valuable 

 book, Nature Study and Life, has this to say 

 about them: 



"The best insect food for soft-billed birds is 

 meal worms, and every child that wishes to help 

 young birds (Professor Hodge here refers to 

 birds which have fallen from the nest or which 

 have been wounded) should learn how to rear 

 them and keep a supply on hand. They are also 

 excellent food for winter birds and for robins 

 and bluebirds and many others that come early 



