312 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



to orioles, as well as to yellow warblers, indigo buntings, 

 and cardinals. Strips of cloth an inch or so wide and a foot 

 or more long placed in the shrubbery will be seized eagerly 

 by catbirds and thrashers. Even robins will not despise a 

 strip of cloth or paper to work into the foundation of their 

 nests; but they like better than this a spot of wet soil in 

 the garden from which they may obtain mud for the walls 

 of their nests. 



The problem of food supply is not a serious one for the 

 birds during the summer months, since at this season they 

 subsist chiefly upon insects. Some birds, however, vary 

 this insect diet with seeds and fruits of various kinds. For 

 this reason they have acquired a bad reputation among 

 fruit growers. There is little doubt that all fruit-eating 

 birds prefer wild to cultivated varieties. They eat the 

 latter because man has destroyed all of their former wild 

 fruit-feasting haunts. Shrubs and trees that bear wild 

 fruit set out in the yard, or in the corner of the orchard, 

 will not only save the cultivated fruit but will attract to our 

 premises birds that otherwise visit us but rarely. 



The following trees and shrubs bear fruit that attract 

 the birds: wild cherry, white mulberry, mountain ash, 

 hackberry, dogwood, elder, and sumach. A few sunflowers 

 will attract flocks of merry goldfinches during, the latter 

 part of the summer. Wild columbine and trumpet creeper 

 will bring the dainty hummingbirds to our very doors. 



Water should be provided as well as food. Dishes 

 and pans kept filled with a fresh supply during the hot days 

 of summer will insure the visits of dozens of our most charm- 

 ing songsters. Common tin milk pans or granite baking 

 dishes serve the purpose. The water should vary from an 



