A New Feeding-Slab 15 



Constant trapping keeps the numbers of Sparrows down to the minimum, 

 but when in winter I put out food on horizontal platforms or perpendicular 

 slabs, using fat and nuts, not only do the Woodpeckers and others use it, but 

 the Sparrows find it a welcome source of food, and if they are undisturbed they 

 will eat two or three times as much as all the native birds put together. I was 

 so bothered in this way last winter that I was driven to invent the upside- 

 down slab shown in the illustration, with the very satisfactory result that while 

 the Chickadees, Woodpeckers, and Nuthatches use it freely, and apparently 

 like it just as well as any other method, the Sparrows never touch it at all. Not 

 only does one get ahead of the Sparrows, but the snow never covers the food, 

 as it does where the supply is on a horizontal platform; and for the northern 

 districts where there is a good deal of snow in winter, this is quite an important 

 point. 



The handle which projects from the center at one end of the slab is for the 

 purpose of supporting it. One may have two nails driven in it or two little 

 wooden sockets on the wall or on a tree, the socket or nail nearest to the feed- 

 ing-slab being below the handle, and the one farthest away being above ; with 

 this arrangement one can pull the slab off, take it in for replenishment, and re- 

 place it again with equal convenience. This slab was exhibited at the last 

 meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union and was favorably commented 

 on by many of those present. 



For food, my plan is to get a bag or two of salted peanuts, grind them in a 

 meat-chopper, mix them with melted suet, and plaster the mass on the wood 

 with a spoon. As soon as cool it adheres perfectly, and one has the satisfaction 

 of knowing that the birds do not walk on their food before eating it, though 

 that satisfaction is probably limited to the human race and not shared by the 

 birds themselves. 



