10 



as many birds as possible to the garden. No attempt will be 

 made now to give a list of the different species of birds found 

 in the locality. Were such a list given from the experience 

 of only two years, it would be merely provisional. Most of the 

 birds common to the farms of Massachusetts are found here; 

 a few exceptions will be noted later. 



As the place was not acquired until July, 1900, all that 

 could be done that season was to attract the fall and winter 

 birds to the farm yard and garden. When the frosts came, 

 suitable food materials, attached to the trees and scattered 

 upon the ground or snow, caused a gathering of the birds from 

 far and near. 



The larger part of the birds remaining with us during the 

 winter belong to the sparrow family, and are all seed eaters. 

 Most of them feed their young largely upon insects, but breed 

 far to the north, mainly beyond the limits of agricultural regions, 

 so that during the breeding season their value to man as insect 

 eaters is not great. As fall approaches, and frosts drive to 

 their winter hiding places the insects on which these birds 

 feed in spring or summer, the sparrows begin to feed on the 

 now ripened seeds of wild grasses and other plants which 

 sparrows are especially fitted by nature to destroy. At this 

 time our native sparrows, the song sparrow, chipping sparrow, 

 field sparrow and others, which have been feeding largely for 

 some time on the seeds of weeds and grasses, begin their south- 

 ward migration, and the northern sparrows come in to take 

 their place. The white-throated sparrow is among the first to 

 appear, followed closely by the fox sparrow, the junco (or 

 black snow bird), and last of all the tree sparrow. Still later, 

 when heavy snows fall, one may see the snowflake, also called 

 the snow bunting or white snow bird, to distinguish it from 

 the black snow bird or junco. The fox sparrow lingers awhile, 

 and follows the whitethroat south; but the junco and the tree 

 sparrow remain all winter, or so long as they can find food. 

 A few song sparrows also linger through the winter. Now, if 

 you watch these birds during the fall and winter months, you 

 will find them feeding almost constantly on the seeds of weeds 

 and wild grasses. They visit neglected cornfields and potato 

 fields, roadsides, gardens and old fields grown up to weeds 



