CROP ENEMIES AND FRIENDS 



225 



Bird Neighbors. Song birds may be encouraged to nest about 

 the yard, garden, and orchard. Their beauty and their sweet 

 songs make them charming 

 neighbors. It is a good plan 

 to plant mulberries and berry- 

 and seed-bearing shrubs near 

 the house. Water should be 

 put where birds can get it in 

 dry weather, and food should 

 be provided when the ground 

 is covered with snow. 



Useful Birds. Among the 

 birds most helpful to the 

 farmer are the swallows, 

 cuckoos, woodpeckers, spar- 

 rows, wrens, Baltimore oriole, 

 bluebird, partridge, and mock- 

 ing bird. 



Swallows. There are seven 

 common species of swallows 

 found in the United States, and 

 most of them like to build 

 their nests near houses. The 

 barn swallow has given up its 



original habit of building in rock caves or under cliffs, and makes 

 its nest under the eaves of barns or often inside barns and out- 

 houses. Like all other insect-eating birds, swallows are swift 

 of wing. They are rarely seen still, darting here and there to 

 catch the flies, ants, beetles, and other insects which are their food. 



Cuckoos. Cuckoos eat grasshoppers and caterpillars, as well 

 as flies and bugs. Unlike most other birds, cuckoos eat hairy cater- 



tesy of Connecticut Agricultural Station 



A BIRDS' CHRISTMAS TREE 



Chicadees are attracted to the bird house by 

 food put on the shelf for them. 



