246 FLOWER GARDENING 
it where there is shade. The water must either be 
very shallow or be made so in places by the use of 
stones; garden birds bathe, they do not swim. 
Hedges, especially untrimmed ones, and all 
shrubbery in the form of thickets appeal strongly 
to birds. To them birds can run or fly to cover, 
they are good for nesting and roosting purposes 
and the ground beneath is just the place for scratch- 
ing. Wherever circumstances permit, it is an ex- 
cellent plan to create thickets as bird coverts; the 
company of the songsters, let alone the destruction 
of insect pests, will pay for the trouble over and 
over again. 
What birds are willing to do, even without the 
allurement of water, is easily proven by what they 
did in one instance. Either within a few feet of 
the garden or in a tree just above it the starling, 
purple grackle, song sparrow, English sparrow, 
chipping sparrow, robin, bluebird, English gros- 
beak, yellow hammer and screech owl have all 
nested at one time or another in a space of less than 
six years. Adding the mere callers, the bird guests 
have exceeded thirty—and this where conditions 
are suburban rather than rural. 
