Entertainment in Winter 147 



some of the feeding devices which I have tried 

 and found satisfactory for attracting birds to the 

 home grounds. 



The Food Tray 



One of the simplest devices is a food tray or 

 lunch counter which anyone can make, if it can 

 be said to need making. It may be a shallow 

 cigar box, though this is rather small. A better 

 one could be made from a piece of board say a 

 foot or eighteen inches wide, and two or three 

 feet long with laths or similar strips of wood 

 nailed around to form a rim, so that the seeds 

 will not roll off. A good-sized hole should be 

 bored in each corner, and over each, on the 

 under side of the tray, should be tacked a piece 

 of wire netting. This will prevent the tray from 

 becoming full of water when it rains. Such a 

 tray, with a stick below to brace it, may be 

 fastened to a tree, to the window sill, or both, 

 and if a supply of food is kept in it all the time, 

 the birds are sure to find it. If a roof is arranged 

 over it, it becomes a "food shelter/' and will 

 not require sweeping off after every snowstorm. 

 Besides putting seed and other food in the tray 

 itself we sometimes fasten to the tray an upright 

 branch or small log and to this attach a piece 

 of suet. This is for the convenience of any 



