EVERY GOLF COURSE A BIRD SANCTUARY 



WINTER FEEDING 



There are few efforts that can be made to insure the presence of birds which 

 will yield larger dividends of pleasure both to the giver and the recipient^ than 

 the maintaining of feeding stations, especially during the winter months. A food 

 shelf at a window of the Club-house, where the birds can be watched by every- 

 one, kindles a spark in the eye of the observer as well as in that of the bird. 

 Other feeding stations, such as those illustrated in the next few pages, scattered 

 in suitable places, will do much to make the Golf Course a real sanctuary teem- 

 ing with bird-life. 



From the standpoint of food there are three groups of winter birds, — those 

 like the Woodpeckers that normally feed upon insects, — those like the Bob- 

 whites that feed upon weed-seeds ; and those like the Waxwings that feed upon 

 fruits. The best substitute for insects is beef suet and the simplest substitute 

 for weed-seed is ordinary chick-feed or bread crumbs. Birds like the Chickadees 

 and Nuthatches, that are partially insectivorous, enjoy suet and such fatty 

 seeds as those of sunflowers, also raw peanuts and other nuts. There is no very 

 good substitute for wild fruits and the best way to provide for the fruit-eaters is 

 to plant berry-bearing trees, shrubs and vines that hold their fruit over winter. 



Some of the winter Chickadees will get tame enough to eat from one's hand 

 and occasionally other species will do the same. 



A few seed-eating birds like Horned Larks and Snow Buntings that regu- 

 larly frequent Golf Courses hesitate to come to any of the covered feeding sta- 

 tions illustrated in the following pages and always live on the wind-swept 

 spaces. For such birds it is better to tramp down the snow or shovel it away 

 from a few square yards amongst the weeds before scattering chick-grain. Food 

 scattered on the soft snow is never found when needed. Bob-whites and 

 Pheasants will find the covered shelters but will seldom feed above the ground 

 so that some kind of shelter of brush, corn-stalks or sheaves of wheat on the 

 ground should be provided for them as shown on pages 25 and 26. Pheasants 

 will eat whole corn but smaller grain should be provided for the Bob-whites. 



Suet-holders and various types of food-shelves are now carried by a num- 

 ber of dealers, a list of whom will be sent upon request. 



A convenient method of supplying whole corn to the Pheasants so that 

 squirrels cannot carry it away and hide it is to drive spikes through a board 

 and force the cobs down onto the spikes as shown in the photograph on page 20. 



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