8 METHODS OF ATTRACTING BIRDS 



systematically placed, the trees were uninjured. 

 A similar effect was noticed in the orchards. At 

 Seebach the trees always escaped the devastation 

 of insects, while the neighboring orchards fre- 

 quently suffered from their attacks. The inhab- 

 itants of the neighboring villages noticed this 

 difference and began to hang up bird-houses, as 

 a result of which a decrease in the caterpillar 

 plague was noticed. 



Those native birds which may be induced to 

 live in artificial houses or around buildings are 

 very valuable from the economic standpoint of 

 the farmer. In tabular form below are given the 

 essential facts regarding the food-habits of these 

 birds, and also a table showing the frequency 

 with which the young are fed. It is especially at 

 this time, when the birds are feeding their young, 

 that they are of great value on account of the 

 enormous amount of food required by the nest- 

 lings. For the first days of their existence they 

 eat more than their own weight of food in a day, 

 and gain in weight from twenty to fifty per cent 

 during the same period. The work of feeding 

 begins at sunrise and continues without intermis- 

 sion until sunset, food being brought to the nest- 

 lings every four or five minutes. This consists 

 almost entirely of insects, even for the young of 

 the seed-eating birds. 



