FOOD TO BE PROVIDED 135 



skirts, where quite a number of species can be 

 noted as regular residents or visitors. 



The first question to be considered is as 

 to the food to be provided ; something that 

 will be both satisfying and nutritious and, as 

 far as possible, generally suitable to the different 

 species. Let the first item, then, of our free 

 breakfast table consist of table scraps, of every 

 sort ; refuse bread softened and broken up, all 

 morsels of meat, and especially of fat, being 

 carefully preserved, chopped up small and added 

 to it ; then, to get bulk, a good proportion of 

 * thirds ' meal should be rubbed with melted 

 dripping into a crumbling mass, and the whole 

 thoroughly mixed together with a good hand- 

 ful or two of hemp-seed added. 



Where and how to serve the meal must 

 depend on the locality. The town-dweller may 

 have to rest contented with the window-sill, 

 but where there is a yard, garden or lawn, a 

 rough table can easily be arranged with a board 

 raised on four posts driven into the ground, or 

 a shelf fixed against a wall, as circumstances 

 may suggest. But in every case such structure 

 must be amply secured from marauding cats 

 with wire netting and barbed wire. 



Another and excellent plan consists of an 

 inverted bottle supported by wire loops pro- 



