136 THE BIRDS' FREE BREAKFAST TABLE 



jecting from a wooden upright, with the mouth 

 of the bottle reaching to about a quarter-inch 

 above a little wooden board or plate at right 

 angles to the upright, to the foot of which the 

 plate is securely nailed. This apparatus is hung 

 by means of a hole at the upper end of the 

 upright batten on a nail in a tree-stem or wall. 

 To use it, it is taken down from the nail, the 

 bottle removed and filled with hemp-seed. 

 The bottle is then returned through the loops, 

 the upright being meantime inverted. When 

 all is ready, the whole is quickly turned round 

 and re-hung on its nail. The bottle being thus 

 once more turned mouth downwards, a certain 

 portion of hemp-seed will have fallen in a little 

 heap on the plate and as this is devoured by 

 the birds a further supply is always automati- 

 cally descending, the main amount being mean- 

 while kept dry in any weather. It is, in fact, 

 on just the same principle as some poultry 

 fountains and feeding dishes. This method 

 naturally benefits only the hard-billed or seed- 

 eating birds. 



Yet again another plan, and one that is most 

 interesting and amusing, is to to suspend food 

 of a suitable nature by a cord from a tree-branch 

 or some such object. A lump of tough fat, 

 such as a piece of bacon-rind, is perhaps best 



