17 



III my "Useful Birds and their Protection," fourth edition, 

 1913, published by the Massachusetts State Board of Agricul- 

 ture, two lists of plants attractive to birds are given, pages 

 374 to 376 and pages 430 to 432. For lack of space and be- 

 cause they would largely duplicate the two lists above they 

 cannot be repeated here, nor can the long lists of food plants 

 of the ruffed grouse and bob-white, printed in my "Game 

 Birds, Wild Fowl and Shore Birds," be included in this cir- 

 cular, but for the convenience of those who wish to attract 

 game birds the following by Mr. McAtee from the Yearbook 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture for 1909 is 

 appended : — 



While the establishment of preserves for land game birds is yet a new 

 movement in this country, it is certain to become of great importance. 

 Hence it is desirable to disseminate information as to the food and covert 

 plants that are favored by the grouse and quail. Bob-whites frequently 

 use covers of rose, alder and blackberry bushes, and thickly set barbeny, 

 bay berry and dense banks of honeysuckle are suitable. These plants also 

 furnish food for the birds, but they should be supplemented by others 

 more exclusively adapted for this purpose. Sumac, Japanese clover, buck- 

 wheat, sorghum, millet, vetches, cowpeas, and any plants of the pea family 

 producing small seeds are valuable, and should be sown in large quantities. 

 The seeds of milk pea (Galactia), partridge pea (Chamcechrista), hog pea- 

 nut (Falcata), wild bean (Strophostyles) , and smartweeds (Polygonum) 

 are important natural foods of the eastern quail, but should be encouraged 

 only where they cannot become weed pests. The western quail are fond 

 of the seeds of sumac, bur clover, alfilaria, lupines, napa thistle and turkey 

 mullein plants; but where these plants are Uable to become nuisances the 

 food plants recommended for the eastern quail will serve. 



Coverts for grouse, as the sharptail, should abound in such plants as 

 rose, sumac, blueberry, bearberry, buffalo berry, dwarf birch and alder. 

 The ruffed grouse thrives among scrub oak, bayberry, ros^ sumac, dwarf 

 birch, alder, poplar, willow and such fruit-bearing plants as partridge 

 berry, hawthorn, viburnum, wild grapes, mountain ash, blueberry, black- 

 berry and cranberry. Cover of this nature is suited to the heath hen also, 

 and to the imported pheasants and the Hungarian partridge, but in all 

 cases it is well to supplement the food supply furnished by these shrubs 

 and trees by planting small grains and legumes, as recommended for 

 quail. 



Some of the plants named in the above list are not native to 

 New England, and probably the cowpea and the milk pea will 

 not mature in Massachusetts, but most of them may be utilized 

 here. 



