DOES IT PAY THE FARMER TO PROTECT BIRDS? 177 



MEANS OF ATTRACTING BIRDS TO THE FARM. 



There are many ways of attracting birds to the farm and about the 

 farmhouse. A convenient drinking and bathing place near the 

 house is one of the most effective lures for birds known, as well as 

 one of the cheapest. For wrens, swallows, bluebirds, chickadees, and 

 other kinds, which build in cavities of trees, boxes may be put up, 

 care being taken to protect them as far as possible from the aggres- 

 sive English sparrow. Above all should the farmer pay attention 

 to the cats on his farm. It is only recently that the extent of the 

 depredations of the house cat on wild life, especially on birds, has 

 been recognized. Many who have studied the matter believe that 

 taking the year round cats are responsible for the death of more 

 birds, especially young ones, than all wild animals put together. This 

 may or may not prove to be an exaggeration, but unquestionably cats 

 everywhere, especially on the farm, destroy vast numbers of birds. 

 Even the well-fed and well-housed pet is responsible for many valu- 

 able lives, but the greater number are destroyed by strays which mis- 

 taken kindness has turned adrift, when not wanted in the house, to 

 live as best they may. An adequate remedy against the bird-catch- 

 ing cat is neither easy to suggest nor to apply, but at least the 

 farmer, who rightfully counts the birds of his farm as his friends, 

 should be expected to destroy the stray cats that infest the country in 

 summer, and, so far as possible, to see to it that the natural instincts 

 of his own house pets are suppressed by ample feeding and reasonable 

 restraint. 



MEANS OF PROTECTING CROPS FROM BIRDS. 



There are various devices by means of which the farmer may 

 protect his crops from the attacks of birds, reserving the use of 

 the gun as a last resort when all other methods have failed. Scare- 

 crows, a dead crow hung on a pole, a white cord stretched around a 

 field, the drilling of seed, and the tarring of seed corn are some of the 

 old and approved methods of preventing losses by crows and black- 

 birds. To be effective, no one of these should be employed exclusively 

 or too long at a time in the same locality, since long contact with man 

 has taught the crow a number of things. Fruit trees when few in 

 numbers may be protected by netting. The planting of wild fruit 

 trees, or those possessed of little commercial value, for the protec- 

 tion of orchards has not received the attention in this country that it 

 deserves. 



Even when such protective devices fail the fanner is not driven 

 to the wholesale destruction of birds. For it is being more and more 

 recognized that there is much individuality among birds, and that 

 generally the aggressors in a certain locality are a comparatively few 



