6 



an incident. In normal seasons birds can find food somewhere, 

 except in the stress of winter, when deep snow covers the 

 ground and ice encases the trees; then they face starvation. 

 Also there are exceptional times in spring and autumn when the 

 lives of birds may be endangered in unusually cold or wet, 

 sleety weather, when they become chilled and cannot find suf- 

 ficient food. Food provided for them then may save many from 

 starvation. When a feeding place has been established and 

 accepted by the birds, a supply of food should be kept there 

 throughout the year, that they may know where to find it at 

 all times in case of a sudden scarcity. Birds will breed faster 

 if fed well, and extra food is often a great assistance to parent 

 birds who may come to depend on it at times while feeding 

 their young on insects. 



Location of Feeding Stations. 



A feeding station for winter use should be located, if possible, 

 in a sunny spot, on the south side of a hill, bluff, building, 

 thicket or belt of coniferous trees, where the birds will be pro- 

 tected from cold winds. Food at an established feeding place 

 will supply the birds of the neighborhood during any time of 

 want. It will assure their presence and they will attract many 

 others. For every minute a bird spends in eating such substi- 

 tutes for its natural food as we may provide, it spends many 

 minutes destroying insects, among them some of the greatest 

 pests of farm and garden. 



In my boyhood I observed that the skinned carcasses of 



small animals hung up in the shelter of the woods by trappers 



V- . |k_ were utilized as food in winter by 



"~^ crows, jays, chickadees, nuthatches 



- '■^'^ ^- __,,3j^ and woodpeckers, and that juncos. 



tree sparrows, snow buntings and 

 -■■ "^fcl^- '-' ' other seed eaters sought food 



. ~^^i-. ::%.;- • * among the chaff scattered about 



' ''''i - ' barnyards or in farm sheds when 



Fig. 2. - Hayseed scattered on the gllOW lay deep OU the grOUud. 

 snow. 



Such materials are all that are nec- 

 essary to attract most winter birds, but possibly a larger number 

 of species may be lured by using a greater variety of food, and 



