PLANTS USEFUL TO ATTRACT BIRDS. 187 



Species of the genera listed can be selected that furnish adequate 

 bird shelter and also a continuous supply of fruit throughout the 

 year in any part of the United States where cultivation of trees and 

 shrubs is practicable. It is most important to have a sure supply of 

 bird food for late winter and early spring. The quantity of natural 

 food is then smallest, and frequently the few remaining sources are 

 rendered inaccessible by snow and sleet. It is advisable, therefore, 

 for bird lovers to make liberal use of plants which retain their fruit 

 through the winter. They will be well repaid, for a dependable food 

 supply is never a more potent bait than at this bleak season. Among 

 the plants much patronized by birds, those which hold their fruit 

 longest are juniper, bayberry, hackberry, barberry, magnolia, moun- 

 tain ash, rose, Christmas berry, china berry, pepper tree, sumach, 

 holly (Ilex opaca), black alder (Ilex verticillata) , certain wild grapes 

 (notably the frost grape, Vitis cordifolid), manzanita, snowberry, 

 and some evergreen species in other genera, such as the evergreen 

 blueberry (V actinium ovatum) of the Pacific coast region, farkle- 

 berry (V actinium arboreum), and evergreen cherry (Prunus caro- 

 liniana) of the Southeastern States. In some localities the Virginia 

 creeper holds its fruit, in others dropping it readily. 



The plants with persistent fruit bridge the gap between the over- 

 whelming abundance of autumn and the scarcity of early spring. 

 Before the last of the wintered-over fruit disappears, a few plants 

 have blossomed and begin to mature the first fruits of another season. 

 Among the earliest of all and greatly relished by birds, are mulberries. 

 They ripen in April even in late March in southern localities and 

 in May and June farther north. Red-berried elder and service berries 

 are but little later; often the latter are not left on the trees by the 

 hungry birds long enough to ripen. Wild strawberries, raspberries, 

 and dewberries are early and may be used to protect cultivated 

 species. Certain kinds of cherries, as the European bird cherry 

 (Prunus padus) and the mahaleb or stock cherry (Prunus mahaleb), 

 ripen their fruit at about the same time as domestic cherries and will 

 serve to divert the attention of birds. From the time summer is 

 well started there is a constant abundance of wild fruits. Blueberries, 

 huckleberries, certain dogwoods, viburnums, and grapes are among 

 the first to ripen and fall, while sarsaparilla, elder, gooseberries, cur- 

 rants, spicebush, and sassafras are somewhat more persistent. Other 

 dogwoods, silverberry, sour gum, and black cherry hold their fruit a 

 little later, and pokeberry, hawthorn, buffalo berry, some wild grapes, 

 and viburnums retain their fruit well into the winter, though they 

 seldom last as well as the characteristic winter fruits named above. 



Evidently there need be no season without its fruit if judicious 

 selection of shrubs and trees is made by those desiring to attract 

 birds. Thus a thicket of raspberry or dewberry, elder, and dog- 



