birds will be likely in August and September to go where they 

 can be found or to attack cultivated fruit. Any crusade for 

 the extermination of wild cherry trees will fail, as they may 

 be found not only in yards, fields, pastures and along the 

 roadsides, but almost everywhere in the woods. 



In September or October practically all the later wild fruits 

 ripen, and, as many of them remain on the stems all winter, 

 and some until spring, it is only necessary to have them in 

 sufficient variety to provide food for fruit-eating birds through- 

 out the winter. A few of these fruits, however, are particu- 

 larly important as well as ornamental. Some are not eaten 

 much by birds while the softer and more desirable fruits are 

 at their best, but later they remain intact during the inclement 

 months, when frost and storms have destroyed or covered other 

 fruit, and then they offer nutriment to the birds in time of 

 need. Such are the fruits of the American and Em"opean 

 mountain ash, the various sumacs, the junipers, the smilax, 

 holly, hawthorn, bayberry, snowberry, barberry, and the black 

 alder. The fruit of the mountain ash is very rich and orna- 

 mental in color, and rarely is cleaned up by birds until the 

 dead of winter, when they seek it eagerly. The foliage of the 

 sumacs is brilliant in autumn, while the fruit, as well as that 

 of the black alder, is handsome and remains on the stem for 

 the winter birds. The catkins of the birches and of the com- 

 mon alder are sought 

 !^;f^^ for their seeds by winter 



birds. It is essential 

 to provide berries and 

 seeds on shrubs and 

 trees well above the 

 snow for winter food. 



All trees that are at- 

 tacked by many insects 

 are favorites with birds. 

 Manyhundreds of species 

 of insets infest the apple, 

 oak, poplar, willow, birch 

 and alder. Hence these trees are visited by many birds. The 

 coniferous trees are not subject to the attacks of such a variety 



Virginia juniper or red cedar. 



