BIRD BASINS AND FEEDING TABLES 



make these decorative food bells of practical value. 

 The original food bell as tested in Germany, on the 

 bird experiment station of the Baron von Berlepseh 

 estate, consists of an ingenious mechanical device 

 which serves out food automatically and without 

 waste, like our patent poultry feeders. As origi- 

 nally used, the mechnical food bell was an inverted 

 glass jar or bottle, holding the supply of seed, and 

 feeding it as needed through a tube to a bowl or 

 bell below. It was necessary to have the construc- 

 tion of this apparatus carefully adjusted, with the 

 lower end of the tube extending just below the upper 

 end of the food dish, or it would not work properly. 



Special food trees are another garden feature. 

 A low-growing tree with wide-spreading, horizontal 

 branches and located in a prominent place in the 

 home garden is selected, and in this little food plat- 

 forms are arranged where seed and crumbs and bits 

 of meat are left daily. An upright wooden rim sur- 

 rounding the feeding board or table keeps the food 

 from being scattered by the eager fluttering of the 

 birds. This is much better than having crumbs and 

 seed thrown on the ground, especially when the trees 

 are protected with wire, as previously suggested. 



Another interesting feature of the food tree con- 

 sists of "hangers" which hold securely in place 

 lumps of suet and pieces of meat, suspended in such 



153 



