154 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1917 



DIRDS themselves are winged voyagers. 

 ■ L * They like to come and go ad libitum. 

 The seething sentiment of migration sets 

 them on the wing. No sanctuary has for its 

 purpose the restraining of their freedom. At 

 will they can soar up into the air and pass 

 over the fence and away. Yet there are 

 birds that seem to grasp immediately the 

 meaning of a fence. At 

 Baron von Berlepsch's pre- 

 serve in Germany, the most 

 scientific sanctuary in the 

 world, many birds consist- 

 ently make their entrance 

 and exit through the time- 

 worn holes in the gateposts 

 of the old castle that guards 

 the entrance. At one of the 

 sanctuaries in America the 

 gateposts have had holes 

 drilled in them and through 

 these openings the birds slip 

 in and out constantly. The 

 arrangement adds greatly 

 to the romance of the spot. 



A S SOON as the fence is 

 ■**■ erected, shutting off 

 the enclosure, trees or thick- 

 ets of high shrubbery should 

 be planned like background The bird garden fa best 

 lines hiding it from view. 

 By keeping such growth on 

 the edges of the garden it is given form and 

 the same sort of definiteness that a hedge 

 lends to a flower garden. Often there occur 

 natural thickets that can be left untouched. 

 The undergrowth of topped trees, when these 

 are so handled on account of view or because 

 of certain proportions desired in the garden, 

 should be preserved, as apart from its value 

 for game birds it offers to others natural 

 breeding places. 



In fact brushwood piles should form a fea- 

 ture of both coniferous and deciduous thickets 

 as it is such places that many song birds, nest- 

 ing in the open, choose for their homes. 

 Shubbery can also be so pruned as to make it 

 especially habitable to birds; and branches 

 tied together often attract the round, shrewd 

 eyes of those on the lookout for nesting sites. 



^[ATURALLY the individual peculiarities 

 -L^ of the shrubs used in a bird garden must 

 be taken into account. In general those 

 that stand well severe pruning are to be 

 favored since the inducement they thus re- 

 ceive to throw out new growth freely is apt 



to result in admirable recesses for birds. 

 Shrubs for shady places, likewise those that 

 demand full sunlight must be included and 

 also those which by means of thorns act as 

 enemies to vermin. The Shadbush, Moun- 

 tain Ash, the Tartarian Bush-honeysuckle, 

 the Elder and the Cranberry tree (Viburnum 

 opulus), are all well known, suitable, and 



enclosed and appropriately designed houses for particular birds may readily be 

 purchased 



SHRUBS AND TREES ATTRACTIVE TO BIRDS 



March, April — Thunberg's Barberry. 



June — Shadbush. Juneberry. 



June, July — Red-berried Elder, Ruprecht's Honey- 

 suckle, Wild Red Raspberry. 



June, July, August — Blueberries, Black and White 

 Mulberries. 



July — Wild Strawberry, Thimbleberry, Wild Red 

 Cherry, Wild Black Currant, Morrow's Honey- 

 suckle, Bush-noneysuckle, Tartarian Honey- 

 suckle, Mahaleb Cherry, Mountain ' Currant, 

 Buffalo Currant, Japanese Oleaster, Japanese 

 Viburnum, European Bird Cherry, Goumi. 



July, August — Wild Sarsaparilla, False Spikenard, 

 Sassafras, Highbush Blackberry, White-fruited 

 Dogwood, Smoke Tree. 



August — Black Cherry, Choke Cherry, Purpus's 

 Dogwood, Wayfaring Tree, Arrowwood, Pubescent 

 Viburnum. 



August to March — European White Birch. 



August, September — Black Birch, Gray Cornel, 

 Silky Cornel, Red-osier Dogwood, Alternate- 

 leaved Cornel, Beach Plum, Common Elder, Dew- 

 berry, High Blueberry. 



September — Climbing Bittersweet, Moonseed, Cran- 

 berry-tree, Arrow-wood, Black Haw, Witherod, 

 Sweet Gum, English Fly-honeysuckle, Canby's 

 Viburnum, Thorns, Sea Buckthorn, Common 

 Barberry. 



September to March — Crabapple. 



September to June — European and Japanese 

 Larches. 



September, October — White Thorn, Tupelo, Sour 

 Gum, Northern Fox Grape, Silver Thorn or 

 Oleaster. 



September, November — Sheepberry. 



September, Winter — Flowering Dogwood, Hack- 

 berry, Nettle-tree, Spice Bush, Snowberry, Ink- 

 berry, Black Alder, American Holly, American 

 Mountain Ash, European Mountain Ash, Red 

 Cedar or Savin, Common Juniper, Poison Ivy, 

 Checkerberry, Partridge Berry, Pikeweed, Bar- 

 berry, Common Greenbrier, Bayberry, Privet or 

 Prim, Virginia Creeper, Common Nightshade, 

 American Hornbeam, Cockspur Thorn, Wild Rose, 

 Staghorn Sumach, Dwarf Sumach, Smooth Su- 

 mach, Buckthorn. 



October — Dogwood, Crabapple, Spindle-tree. 



November — Frost Grape, Chicken Grape, Matri- 

 mony Vine. 



December — Sweet Birch. 



Fall, Winter — Weigela, St. John's Wort. 



{Compiled from Journal of the N. Y. Botanical Garden, 

 February, 1917.) 



hips of which birds devour, should be given en- 

 trance. The Mulberry furthermore has the 

 credit of having its fruit approved by more 

 varieties of birds than that of any other small 

 tree. The Common Privet (Ligustrum vul- 

 gare) is useful to fill in gaps in the thicket 

 wherever such are likely to occur. The Euro- 

 pean Beech (Fagus silvatica) which holds its 

 foliage later in the autumn 

 than the American species 

 is suitable for the rich soil 

 and decorative sections of 

 the garden. The Hornbeam 

 (Carpinus Carolina), which 

 likes to grow near water is 

 attractive, when the garden 

 includes a stream, to plant 

 along its banks. Ilex ver- 

 ticillata wifh its red winter 

 berries, Juniperus virginiana 

 (Red Cedars), pollarded 

 Firs and Norway Spruces, 

 the latter admirable in 

 shape for a bird shelter- 

 wood, are among the most 

 important of the evergreen 

 trees that should be ar- 

 ranged like accents among 

 the deciduous shrubbery. 



And these mentioned 

 trees and shrubs are notably 

 those familiar along road- 

 sides, as escapes from culti- 

 vation, as the inhabitants of borders of woods 

 or haunting the banks of streams. They are 

 not classed among costly rarities. To form 

 of them a shelter wood is within the ability 

 of the greater number of country home dwel- 

 lers; while to draw the birds into friendly 

 nearness is to add to the joy of life. Any of 

 these plants may be as safely transplanted 

 during the open spells of winter as at any 

 other time. 



TT IS not only marsh birds that require 

 ■"• water in the vicinity of their nests. This 

 is true of them all. Therefore one of the first 

 considerations in bird garden building is the 

 water supply. When the garden is small, of 

 level, dry ground having no lake, spring or 

 stream, this need can be met by a fountain; 

 again it can be supplied by numerous bird 

 basins. Very early in the morning birds are 

 astir for food and drink. In the successful 

 bird garden they must not be disappointed. 



Innumerable are the bird baths and foun- 

 tains now on the market. The practical ones, 



Many insects wanted for one meal! (Indigo bird) 



decorative in a bird garden. The White 

 or May thorn (Crataegus oxyacantha), with 

 its large, spikelike thorns is not to be over- 

 looked. The garden gooseberry, also rich 

 in spines, is valuable for this reason in addition 

 to that of its fruit. Barberries, both the com- 

 mon and Japanese species, are excellent for low 

 hedges; and the native Rosa Carolina, the 



He likes currants (Brown Thrasher) 



