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Attracting Birds 



To attract birds to our yard, I placed a 

 low tree stump in tiie garden and kept a 

 large flower-pot saucer on it, filled with 

 water. Birds of many kinds came there 

 to drink and bathe. When the Bluebirds 

 arrived in the neighborhood I put a Blue- 

 bird house out on a pole, so that it was 

 about ten feet from the ground. In less 

 than two hours a pair of birds were inspect- 

 ing the little tenement. 



The Robins came next. When I dis- 

 covered a Robin building in the cherry 

 tree I made a mud-bath for him, — that is, I 

 arranged a low dish filled with a mixture 

 of garden soil and water. This preparation 

 was no more than placed under the tree 

 when the male bird came. He hopped into 

 it and quickly made his little mud-balls, 

 returning several times. This attracted 

 more than one pair of Robins. In fact, 

 three built in the different trees. 



Third, came the Chipping Sparrows. 

 For them I scattered horse-hair about, and 

 kept a dish of water on the ground. Two 

 of this species built in the yard. 



The Orioles appeared in May. I tried 

 to call their attention by dropping colored 

 yarns and strings about in the grass and 

 on the bushes. They came and wove their 

 home among the elm-tree boughs. The 

 male Oriole cared for the young ones and 

 was kept busy taking food to them. On 

 one occasion I saw him in the street picking 

 and pulling at something. After he had 

 flown away, I found the remainder of a 

 tent caterpillar cocoon ; he had extracted 

 the contents and given it to the little ones. 



The cherries ripened by July, and many 

 species of birds came to the tree. It was 

 curious to note how diiTerently they ate the 

 fruit. The Robins pulled off the cherries 

 and flew to the sidewalk, where they picked 

 them to pieces ; the Bluebirds attacked only 

 those that had fallen on the ground ; while 

 the Oriole ate one as soon as he pulled it 



visited the tree. Instead of sitting on a 

 branch and pulling at one, as the Robins 

 did, he poised himself in the air and tugged 

 at the cherry until it was wrenched from 

 its stem. Then he flew to the near birch 

 and balanced the fruit by giving it little 

 tosses in the air, two or three inches above 

 his head, catching it every time it fell. 

 Finally it disappeared down his throat. 



During the season seven birds built upon 

 the premises — and why? If it was the 

 bird bath, the mud and the nesting mate- 

 rial about the yard, then birds can easily 

 be attracted by others. — MaryE. Dolbear, 

 Tufts College, Mass. 



Light sprinc| 



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Bciard fc''2/t 

 Boird loionq by 6"hiqh 



An Anti-Sparrow Food-Shelf 



Mr. W. W. Grant of Summit, N. J., 

 sends us the accompanying plan for a win- 

 dow food-shelf, to which, he writes, such 

 comparatively wild birds as Tanagers, Flick- 

 ers and others come, but which the English 

 Sparrow will not, after one trial, visit. A 

 board is hinged to the window-sill, and from 

 the far end (see cut) a string is run to the 

 top of the window, with a light spring be- 

 tween. When a bird alights on the plat- 

 form, the latter will swing up and down, 

 the amount of swing depending on the birds 



and the weight of the spring, to which the 

 from its stem. The Kingbird frequently string is attached. 



(30) 



