Juuy, 1916 
i Het eG AR DE N MeA{G A ZIN E 
These two views are taken in the “‘acre cultivated to birds” and show that garden values have not been sacrificed in attracting the birds. 
the much traveled public street. The drinking fountain isa great favorite with the birds 
raise two broods each year; blue birds two 
and often three. If a single compartment 
house is provided either wrens or blue 
birds will desert it in midsummer in search 
of a home for their second brood. For 
_ these particular birds compartment houses 
are provided so that they can move from 
one part to another as the needs of the hour 
demand. 
For flickers and woodpeckers houses 
with larger entrances and designed to offer 
-the same seclusion as a hole in a telegraph 
pole have been prepared and fastened in 
attractive spots. For birds which will not 
occupy a house but which are not averse 
to a few improvements which make nest 
building easy little shelter shelves have. 
been provided. These consist of a shelf 
upon which the nest can be constructed. 
A projecting roof offers a sense of security 
which some birds seem to appreciate— 
probably in the same way that a robin likes 
to build a nest now and then up under the 
shelter of a porch. These shelter shelves 
have been placed here and there about the 
place to good effect. Most of them are 
occupied by catbirds, robins and brown 
thrashers. All told some forty houses and 
shelter shelves together with the colony 
houses for the martins have provided homes 
for a large number of birds. And in addi- 
tion to those which have nested on the 
place innumerable other birds, attracted by 
the food and water, have set up housekeep- 
ing nearby. 
For feeding the birds several means have 
been employed. Little shelters which are 
both rain and snow proof are scattered here 
and there among the trees. In these are 
hemp and other seeds together with meat 
scraps and bread crumbs. In other places 
little covered feeding tables—made to 
swing with the wind like a weather vane— 
also provide a place out of the wind where a 
bird may feed in comfort in any weather. 
In still other spots shelves have been placed 
which hold suet, meat scraps or seeds as 
the case may be. No feathered creature 
need go hungry once he finds his way to 
Different species of birds take naturally to different styles 
of house, and there is plenty of room for individual fancy 
in their design 
this spot. All of which—when added to the 
sense of security enjoyed—accounts no 
doubt for the fact that no attention is paid 
to the noisy traffic which passes a few feet on 
the other side of the protecting shrubbery. 
One other thing has helped to interest 
the birds in this spot full as much as any- 
thing mentioned. This has been the pres- 
ence of plenty of clean fresh drinking water 
and numerous baths for their comfort. 
It has been not unusual to see fifteen or 
twenty birds at one time on or around these 
baths. At such times they appear to 
respect each other’s rights. One after 
another they will take their turn in the 
“plunge” which is a shallow saucer-like 
affair made of cement. The others wait 
patiently upon the edge of the pool until it 
comes their turn. 
In view of all the comforts and the pro- 
Just across the shrubs shown on the right is 
tection offered them it is not strange, per- 
haps, that this little sheltered bird paradise 
is so crowded as to almost need a “waiting 
list.” Last season in addition to the col- 
ony of more than 200 martins there were 
four pairs of blue birds, five pairs of wrens, 
one pair of great crested flycatchers, and 
two pairs of flickers nesting in the bird 
houses. Beside -these there were three 
pairs of robins, two pairs of catbirds, two 
pairs of brown thrashers, and a pair of 
phoebes using the shelter shelves for the 
placement of their nests. Besides all these 
there were many other housekeeping pairs 
either in the shrubbery on the place or in 
nearby trees. Most of them, no doubt, had 
been attracted by the bird comforts pro- 
vided at this point. Among these latter 
were scarlet tanagers, blue jays—which 
because of their piratical habits fall into the 
class of uninvited guests—gold finches, crow 
blackbirds, white bellied swallows, Baltimore 
orioles, and several varieties of warblers. 
The English Sparrow 
UST the other day, as I looked over the 
May copy of Country Life, I read Mr. 
Whipple’s appeal to find some good 
point, or something kindly or heroic about 
the English sparrow. And this morning 
as I hurried to the train for town I heard 
the chatter of sparrows and blue birds in 
front of my house. 
On my return a few minutes ago I found 
the four eggs of the blue birds, broken, on 
the ground under the nest, the young in 
them nearly old enough to hatch; and a 
pair of sparrows in possession of the nest. 
No! I did not see them doit. But there 
is no cat, nor red squirrel, nor (I regret to 
say) small boy. Every year the same story; 
only by greatest care with the shot gun do 
I ever see my young blue birds grow up. 
Is there anything kindly or heroic in it? 
Are we to accept it as a general sign of the 
times that it is time for the race of blue 
bird to pass out, and that in bird land, too, 
we are to revert to brute force? 
Ohio S. PRENTISS BALDWIN. 
