130 METHODS OF ATTRACTING BIRDS 



These tables, of course, are incomplete and do 

 not tell the whole truth regarding the fruit diet of 

 the birds, but simply summarize the results of ob- 

 servations and investigations as far as the records 

 have been available. The records could be ex- 

 tended and the author would gladly welcome any 

 additional data so as to make them as complete 

 as possible. 



A complete list of fruits eaten by some of the 

 birds would probably include nearly the whole 

 range of wild fruits ; but in addition to the list 

 already given, there are some other fruits which 

 birds have been known to eat : sweet gum, rose, 

 poison ivy, nightshade, sassafras, dewberry, bear- 

 berry, crow-berry, black alder, wintergreen, gray 

 birch, oaks, pines, and moonseed. 



Relation of Birds and Fruits. The brilliant 

 colors of the wild fruits which warm the autumn 

 and winter landscapes, and the extent to which 

 birds feed upon these, suggest one of nature's 

 great economies. In somewhat the same way that 

 insects are attracted to flowers by their bright 

 colors and strong odors, to secure their nectar 

 and pollen for food, and then distribute the pollen 

 to other flowers, so there is something of the same 

 relation between birds and fruits. The birds are 

 attracted to the shrubs by the bright colors of 



