PROTECTION OF GARDEN TRUCK 409 



11 The Boxes. The cover should be detachable, so that the box 

 can be cleaned easily. 



"A sloping top with an overhang is a protection to the young 

 birds from both sun and rain. 



" Squirrels may be kept out of the boxes by putting a piece 

 of zinc around the hole so that they cannot enlarge it by gnawing. 



"The box should be ventilated. 



" Poles are preferable to trees for erecting houses, as they 

 afford protection from both cats and squirrels. 



"Wood is the best material. Tin or earthen boxes should be 

 placed in the shade." 



Put a six-inch shelf of zinc around the pole to help keep off 

 cats and squirrels. 



Feeding Birds. In summer birds generally obtain enough food 

 without special help from man, but in winter, when the natural 

 food is scarce or covered with snow, any provision in this direction 

 which we may offer is appreciated. Shrubs, some of which have 

 fruit on their branches all winter, have been referred to before. 

 In addition, one may give them suet, or meat, or grain. Recep- 

 tacles may be constructed or purchased to hold these somewhat 

 differing foods and protect them from the weather. The writer 

 has tacked lumps of suet to tree trunks with nails and has been 

 gratified, in snowy weather, at seeing numbers of chickadees, 

 nut-hatches, brown creepers, downy woodpeckers, and bluejays 

 avail themselves of food thus offered. There is a better way of 

 feeding suet by enclosing it in a wire basket and thus avoiding 

 waste. 



Crops Attacked by Birds. Since man, in clearing and culti- 

 vating the land, has removed much of the natural vegetable food 

 of birds, and has frequently replaced it with equally appetizing 

 domestic fruit and vegetables, it is very natural that the birds 

 should turn to the cultivated fruit apparently placed within 

 reach for their special benefit. The protection of crops from the 

 attack of birds, therefore, becomes at times a serious problem 

 to the gardener or orchardist or farmer, who, appreciating the 

 services rendered earlier in the season, is loath to kill the innocent 

 marauders, or, even if so disposed, is restrained by law. 



Protection of Garden Truck. It tries even a bird lover's 

 patience to see garden peas over which he has spent time and 

 labor disappear before his eyes as fast as the pods fill. In the 

 writer's experience, orioles have been the chii'f malefactors in this 



