BIRDS OF NEW YORK STATE 



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5 Plant fruit-bearing trees, shrubs and vines 



Mountain ash and cedar waxwing Nu Wg6 



6 Supply water for drinking and bathing 



When the hot weather comes, the birds will need water. A 

 shallow pan placed on a post in the yard where the water can be 

 replenished will attract many birds. If running water is avail- 

 able or if a more elaborate bird bath is feasible, so much the 

 better. The birds will appreciate it at all seasons of the year, 

 even in winter if it is not frozen. 



Drinking log or pan 



7 Care for cats 



Cat with Young Bird in Its Mouth. (1917) Nu ZT4 



There are several other things that can be done to attract birds. 

 First and foremost, is caring for all cats. Pets should be properly 

 fed and cared for and all stray cats should be humanely killed. 



Flight 



When one studies the structure of a bird, one is immediately 

 impressed by the wonderful modifications that have been evolved 

 to fit the bird for flight. The bird's body, its arms and legs, its 

 head and feet, its skeleton, its muscles and tendons, its inner- 

 most parts and its outermost covering are all highly specialized 

 parts of a flying machine. All the features which man has found 

 necessary to emphasize in constructing the modern airplanes, 

 nature perfected when she transformed through thousands of 

 years an ungainly reptile into the graceful bird that we know 

 today. 



An airplane requires in the first place great lightness, as great 

 as is compatible with strength, and there must be no loose ends. 

 It must be compact. The materials must be the strongest for 

 their weight that can be secured. And so we find with the bird, 

 the heavy reptilian bones have become hollow, the platelike bones 

 of the skull, very thin, and the jaws with their heavy muscles 



