Dece mbee, 1917 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



155 



Caught in the act! A small price to pay for the great 

 rewards reaped in insect destruction (Cedar Bird) 



however, are those in which the water is not 

 so deep that there is danger of the bathers 

 drowning and which have for utility a rim 

 or cross-section so arranged that the birds 

 can perch thereon while drinking. 



The feature of endurance in a bird garden, 

 built on ground other than swampland, is 

 often the fountain. As soon therefore as 

 the fence and the boundary lines of trees and 

 shrubbery are set this important bit of furni- 

 ture should fall under consideration. Happily 

 it is one that permits of individual expression. 

 The central portion of the garden is often the 

 place where, as in the selection of the foun- 

 tain, the personality of the owner sounds the 

 note of decision. 



A FEW bird gardens show the whole na- 

 **■ turalistic in treatment, the centre as 

 well as the edges developed in masses of 

 shrubs and plants bearing berries and seeds 

 on which birds love to fatten. Informal 

 paths, taking unexpected curves are made 

 through such gardens and the open spaces 

 that occur left in untrimmed turf. A garden 

 of this nature, however, is apt with time to 

 develop into a veritable thicket or jungle, 

 one in which the human element experiences 

 similar sensations as when visiting a wild 

 woodland. 



A design more generally pleasing is that 

 which keeps the centre of the garden some- 

 what formal, perhaps after the plan of an 

 old English or Colonial garden, and which is 

 enclosed with a low hedge through which 

 vistas open into the more dense planting 

 beyond. The birds learn to pass blithely 

 through these openings and it is a pretty 

 sight to see them amusing themselves for 

 awhile in the open garden and then as with 

 hearing a call from the wild to take to the 

 wing and move swiftly out of sight. 



In the inner, central portion of the garden 

 a few tall Sunflowers should stand like sen- 



tinels since they produce seeds that many 

 birds love to eat: California Poppies, for the 

 same reason, should be grown in numbers, 

 likewise Zinnias and Coreopsis. 



Honeysuckle and Trumpet Creeper are 

 desirable vines to cover pillars and arches as 

 at the base of their flowers is the nectar sought 

 by hummingbirds. The wild Clematis should 

 be given a generous footing; also the bitter- 

 sweet (Celastrus scandens). 



TT IS not difficult to provide birds with 

 -*- food during the season of warm, luscious 

 weather. The care then should be not to 

 overstock the garden with houses and to 

 bring together more birds than there is food 

 supply. Baron von Berlepsch regards as 

 one of his chief reasons of success that he has 

 attended to an able management of his com- 

 missary department. He knows just how 

 much food is supplied to each section of his 

 garden and how many birds it will feed. But 

 with observation the amateur soon gauges the 

 appetites of his birds for when they are not 

 satisfied, no matter how seductive the gar- 

 den, they take to the wing, seeking other 

 quarters. 



(~\F COURSE to attract the birds, houses 

 ^-^ and nesting boxes must be put up. At 

 the present time there are a number of build- 

 ers of scientific boxes all of which have had an 

 influence in furthering bird comfort. The 

 owner of a garden has naturally to select such 

 boxes as are likely to attract the birds pecu- 

 liar to his locality and then to follow the di- 

 rections for hanging and their care, which 

 includes cleansing, sent out by their makers. 

 To hang a nesting box well and securely, so, 

 furthermore, that it gives the bird on the nest 

 protection from draughts and driving rains, 

 is of the utmost importance. 



*TpHE list of birds that can usually be at- 

 *• tracted to the average garden in the 

 northeastern states is both long and varied 

 and includes: blue birds, red-winged black- 

 birds, catbirds, chats, cedarbirds, yellow- 

 billed cuckoos, cardinal birds, chickadees, 

 finches, flycatchers, grouse, hummingbirds, 

 bluejays, juncos, kingbirds, martins, orioles, 

 quail, robins, scarlet tanagers, sparrows, swal- 

 lows, thrashers, thrushes, vireos, woodpeck- 

 ers, warblers, and others equally well known. 



The Woodpecker is surely a great carpenter and bores thfc 

 fruit tree borers to death 



A scientifically constructed house providing protection as 

 well as shelter. The food tray below also prevents assaults 

 by post climbers 



Woodpeckers are indeed the carpenters 

 of the bird world and among some of the best 

 boxes now procurable are those made in 

 imitation of their holes. They themselves, 

 however, are not readily deceived into 

 substituting their craftsmanship for that of 

 others. 



/"ANE of the most beautiful water bird gar- 

 ^-* dens in this country may be described 

 as having been built by accident. Its de- 

 signer, possessed of several acres of swamp 

 land on Long Island, held as her original 

 determination that of turning what was re- 

 garded as a detriment to her neighborhood 

 into an Iris garden. In fact she patterned it 

 after a famous large one in Japan, one in 

 which Iris blooms traverse and color the 

 earth like clouds do the sky. The engineer- 

 ing feat of the undertaking was to erect parallel 

 dykes through the swamp so as to confine the 

 water in distinct channels and then to plant 

 the sides of these dykes with Irises. As the 

 plan unfolded it began to be noticed that 

 water birds were coming to the spot apparently 

 from all directions. A shelter wood, one of 

 the requisites of birds that breed near water, 

 was soon added to the planting; and as a 

 result red-winged blackbirds, swamp song 

 sparrows, marsh wrens, yellow throats, king- 

 fishers and water thrushes began to look 

 upon this garden as their home. Besides 

 supplying the bushes that would be useful 

 to birds not nesting on the ground, boxes 

 were put up for others not especially identi- 

 fied with swamp life. Thus a surprising num- 

 ber of birds eventually came to the garden 

 and the objectionable marsh became an Iris 

 bird-garden of a quality of loveliness appealing 

 strongly to the imagination. 



VX7TNTER is the time when the bird-garden 

 * * needs most the provident care of its 

 builder. For in spite of the hundreds of 

 birds that migrate there are many others 

 that love to cling to the North throughout 

 the year. Food trees and bells, weathervane 

 feeding tables, all of which are now on the 

 market, should occur at intervals through- 

 out the planting ground and their store of 

 grain and suet must not fail. 



A precaution to be taken is that these pre- 

 parations to keep the native song birds near 

 the home do not benefit the English sparrows. 

 For these birds are noisy and so wildly be- 

 haved that many song birds will not dwell 

 near them. It is inevitable, therefore, that 

 traps should be set for them and their nests 

 destroyed. 



