AVES 



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species such as the mulberry, service berry, Virginia creeper, elder- 

 berry, holly, various wild grapes, etc. 



Some of the above methods of encouraging bird life are more impor- 

 tant than others and their importance will vary in different localities, 

 but all will help, more or less, to increase the numbers of this most 

 useful and attractive group of animals. 



Another method of encouraging bird life which is of very great im- 

 portance, but which only a few people are financially able to indulge 



FIG. 128. A feeding box attached to the top of a pole. It is open at the 

 bottom but has glass sides and a tight roof. (From McAtee, How to Attract Birds 

 in Northwestern United States.) 



in, is the establishment of bird preserves. To be sure every farmer 

 who absolutely forbids the killing of birds on his farm is maintaining 

 a small and useful bird preserve; but there are being established, from 

 time to time, large tracts of land for this purpose whose value to the bird 

 life of the country is incalculable. An example of such a preserve is 

 Marsh Island, near New Orleans. This is a tract of some 75,000 acres, 

 purchased by Mrs. Russell Sage and given by her to the United States 

 as a refuge for birds during their stay in the south in the winter or through- 



