10 BULLETIN 715, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



RESERVOIRS. 



The grounds surrounding reservoirs of drinking water usually are 

 well fenced and carefully guarded to minimize contamination. This 

 results in freedom from disturbance, a boon so highly appreciated 

 by birds that in itself it goes far toward making these places satis- 

 factory bird havens. Such reservations can be greatly improved 

 for this purpose, however, by the use of bird houses and proper 

 planting, measures which will be in no way deleterious to the water 

 supply, but which will greatly benefit the birds, and through them 

 the vegetation of the reserve and adjacent country. 



Reservoirs for other than drinking water usually can be sown to 

 aquatic plants, thus making them attractive to many water birds. 

 The character of the planting will depend on circumstances; if a 

 marshy margin is permissible, the place may be made into an excel- 

 lent resort for wild fowl. If only submerged plants are desired 

 and as clean a growth as possible, sago pondweed may be planted. 

 Broader-leaved plants furnish much greater surface for lodgment of 

 silt and growth of algae. The methods of propagating a variety of 

 aquatic plants are described in Department Bulletins 205 and 465. 



COLLEGE AND OTHER SCHOOL GROUNDS. 



The campus, like the park, has suffered from formal landscape gar- 

 dening. Wall-like hedges, closely cropped circles, or triangles of 

 shrubs, and mathematically designed edgings, beds, and gardens 

 have gone far toward robbing school grounds of merit in the eyes of 

 man, and have almost spoiled them for birds. 



All of the arguments made in connection with parks show also the 

 desirability of taking birds into consideration in campus planning. 

 There is in addition the very important objective of keeping up an 

 important educational resource. There is hardly an advanced 

 school in the country that does not offer one or more courses of bird 

 study. The study of birds out-of-doors is essential to a good bird 

 course, and this need should be kept in view by those in charge of 

 college and school grounds. Sylvan campuses where formerly 

 birds abounded have been so filled with buildings, so gardened and 

 formalized, that birds are now scarce. If possible, some corner 

 (preferably of original woodland, where that exists) should be 

 allowed to run wild. Judicious addition of food-producing plants 

 should be made there, and the campus in general improved for birds 

 by allowing shrubs to make natural growths. Putting up nest 

 boxes would make up for the hole-eliminating activities of the tree 

 surgeon. Winter feeding would be very interesting and instructive 

 to many students and could be carried on as part of the course of 

 bird-study classes. Finally, the teacher of ornithology might well 



