212 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



by birds; those bearing an asterisk furnish also satis- 

 factory nesting sites. To this list, prepared by R. E. 

 Horsey and Wm. L. G. Edson, of Rochester, N. Y., have 

 been added the fruiting seasons as given by Mr. McAtee. 

 Many trees and shrubs not included in the list can be 

 made to serve as nesting sites by the proper sort of 

 pruning. Cutting back such trees as poplars so that 

 whorls of branches are formed, or tying together the 

 branches of such shrubs as the dogwoods increases the 

 number of available nesting sites and has the desired 

 effect. 



A STAPLE WINTER DIET 



A gold finch attracted by sunflowers. Many birds are fond of these 

 seeds, especially in winter, and many should be planted just for 

 the birds. 



The list is not considered complete, but even a super- 

 ficial inspection of it will show how one may very easily 

 select a wide range of shrubs and trees suitable for al- 

 most every kind of planting which will at the same time 

 attract birds by their fruits and by the shelter which 

 they afford. Care should be used to select none which 

 would serve to spread fungus diseases, even though 

 they may be very attractive to birds. The various 

 species of currants and gooseberries (Ribes), for ex- 

 ample, which are often highly recommended as supply- 

 ing bird food, have been omitted from the list because 

 they assist in spreading the dreaded pine blister. In 

 wheat-raising districts, the barberry should be avoided 

 likewise, because it harbors the intermediate stage of 

 the wheat rust. 



BIRD LIFE IN APRIL 



"April showers bring May flowers" is a saying of our 

 grandmothers, meaning that while April, itself, is rather 

 unattractive it is a month of promise. And also in the 

 realm of birds, it is scarcely more than a month of 



promise. The first of the month continues the wave of 

 migration that characterized the end of March and the 

 end announces what is going to happen after the first 

 of May, while the whole middle of the month is rather 

 uneventful. The migrants reaching the northern States 

 during the first week are still those that have wintered in 

 the Gulf States and it is not until nearly the last of 

 April that the barn swallows, spotted sandpipers and 

 chimney swifts herald the return of wanderers from 

 Central and South America. 



It does not seem like a month conducive to the start- 

 ing of homes and the assumption of family cares. 

 Nevertheless many birds seem unable to await the more 

 temperate May and some begin to build even before the 

 snow has entirely disappeared. Some are those that have 

 been with us all winter, like the chickadees, nuthatches, 

 and woodpeckers; others are the early migrants from 

 the South like the robin, the bluebird and the mourning 

 dove. The horned larks begin to nest soon after the mid- 

 dle of March and many are the nests overtaken by the 

 snows of early April. We should expect that the hawks 

 and owls would begin nesting as early as this because 

 their food of mice and birds is ever present, and most 

 of them are far advanced in incubation before the end 

 of the month. One species, however, the sharp-shinned 

 hawk, always waits until after the middle of May before 

 starting to build. A similar paradox occurs with the gold- 

 finches and cedar waxwings, which, while with us all 

 winter, do not breed early lie the other permanent resi- 

 dents, but wait until June or even July. 



Another strange case is that of the phoebe, which, al- 

 though one of the flycatchers and dependent on insect 

 food, returns to the northern States shortly after the 

 middle of March and sometimes begins nesting before 

 the end of the month while insects are still extremely 

 scarce. They are hardy birds, these April nesters, and 

 many of them raise two or even three broods during the 

 season. 



GUARDING WHITE PINES 



IN order to safeguard the enormously valuable Western 

 white pine forests from the white pine blister rust 

 now known to have foothold in six Eastern States, and 

 perhaps also in the Ohio Valley, and, second, to avoid 

 the necessity of a burdensome quarantine, the Federal 

 Horticultural Board has requested all Eastern nursery- 

 men not to ship white pines, currants or gooseberries west 

 of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, 

 Oklahoma and Texas. 



The white pine blister rust is a very destructive disease 

 of all white pines, but occurs also in a different form, as a 

 leaf disease, on currants and gooseberries, and may, 

 therefore, be carried to new regions by any of these 

 plants. Like citrus canker and chestnut blight, the white 

 pine blister rust was brought to this country on im- 

 ported nursery stock before the passage of the Federal 

 Plant Quarantine Act. Ninety per cent of the infections 

 now in North America came from a single German nur- 

 sery. An attempt is being made to control the disease in 

 the Eastern States. If this disease should spread to the 



