392 



Trees, Stars, and Birds 



FIG. 244. 



R. E. Horsey 

 Making bird houses. 



The planting of some of 

 these wild varieties on 

 the borders of orchards 

 and vineyards oftentimes 

 serves to protect the cul- 

 tivated fruit. If selected 

 for this purpose, the wild 

 fruit should ripen at the 

 same time as that which 

 is to be saved. For the 

 sake of the birds, vari- 

 ous plants can be grown 

 whose fruit ripens at different seasons. A number of 

 kinds are useful to supply food in winter. 



Of plants that retain their fruit a long time, some of 

 the best are the juniper, sumach, mountain ash, frost 

 grape, roses, and in the South, the magnolia, china- 

 berry, and holly. The mulberries, service berries, red- 

 berried elder, European bird cherry, and mahaleb cherry 

 ripen in the spring or early in the summer. Some of 

 the best of the fruits that ripen later are the elder, wild 

 cherry, chokecherry, the flowering dogwood and other 

 cornels, the black haw and other viburnums, the Virginia 

 creeper, and the climbing bittersweet. Some foreign 

 species that may be obtained from nurseries are very fine 

 for birds. Among these are honeysuckles of different 

 kinds, especially the Tartarian honeysuckle, the haw- 

 thorn, the larch, the Japanese rose, and the Japanese 

 flowering crab. Old apple trees, cherry .trees, and black- 

 berry, raspberry, currant, and other bushes whose fruit 

 we prize are of use to the birds. 



