224 BIRD FRIENDS 



times when one can find the birds right around one's 

 home and know that he has been instrumental in 

 bringing them there. 



From the standpoint of the gardener, fruit-grower, 

 and farmer, increasing the birds is a business prop- 

 osition, the same as when one invests in a spraying- 

 outfit for controlling the insects that prey upon the 

 fruits and vegetables; only in this case the expense 

 is negligible, and after the birds are once brought 

 to the farm and garden, their work in destroying in- 

 sects continues from sunrise to sunset without any 

 effort on the part of the farmer. There are on rec- 

 ord many instances showing the resulting benefits 

 when systematic efforts are made to encourage the 

 presence of birds. Mr. E. H. Forbush cites an in- 

 stance of four young apple trees which were in- 

 fested with plant-lice. Two of the trees, which were 

 located near houses containing families of bluebirds 

 and chickadees, were almost entirely cleared of the 

 lice by these birds, while the other two, which were 

 some distance away, finally died from the effect 

 of the pests. 



Evidence of the value of attracting birds comes 

 also from Germany, where systematic experiments 

 have been carried on. In the spring of 1905 the 

 larvae of a moth attacked a large wood near Eisen- 

 bach, and stripped it almost entirely of its foliage; 

 while in the neighboring wood at Seebach, in which 

 nesting-houses had been systematically placed, the 



