312 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



"In the Arnold Arboretum, in the vicinity of Boston, in 

 the summer of 1895, there were found fifty summer and six- 

 teen winter species of birds in large numbers, besides many 

 other species that passed through during spring and autumn. 

 Mr. Morris Gibbs, of Kalamazoo, an authority on birds, says : 

 "Still, a country about two-thirds cleared and well peopled 

 is sure to embrace more species of birds than is one with its 

 trees all standing. 



"About twenty years ago I took charge of about fifteen 

 acres on our farm, and since then no stock has been permitted 

 to pasture on it. It is wonderful the change that has taken 

 place. To-day it is one of the wildest bits of woodland in the 

 country, and most of the wild flowers indigenous to this lo- 

 cality have reappeared, and I am sure that more birds are to 

 be found on it than on any other piece of land of the same 

 size in the county." 



I would now add to what I then said, that if we would 

 have birds about our homes we must have as few cats as 

 possible. There is nothing that destroys as many birds as 

 the cats. We also ought to plant much shrubbery, preferably 

 berry bearing kinds, about our homes. This doubly pays, for 

 by doing so we make our homes more beautiful and attractive, 

 and provide food and nesting places for our birds. Birds 

 love water for drinking and bathing purposes, and for this 

 reason we ought to provide places for them for these uses, 

 but in doing so, we must be careful to so construct them that 

 the cats can not catch them. We also, ought, when snow is 

 on the ground, to provide food for our birds. This we can 

 do by putting out grain in sheltered places and by tacking 

 up bits of meat and suet for them. And above all things, if 

 we would have birds about us, we must treat them kindly. It 

 was my great privilege to visit Mrs. Julia H. Conklin at West- 

 field, Ind., early in the spring of 1906, where the birds are 

 cared for and treated in the manner I have here indicated, and 

 I was rewarded by seeing more species of birds and larger 

 numbers of them about her home and nesting there than any 

 other place that I have ever visited. 



