10 



MISC. PUBLICATION 13 9, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



TEMPORARY OR EMERGENCY FEEDING 



Though all-winter food patches and regularly tended shelters are 

 the better means of feeding birds, almost any kind of feeding will, 

 in emergencies, aid wild life for short periods. It should be ascer- 

 tained, however, that only temporary rather than permanent feeding 

 is needed. A common tendency is to consider feeding ample if 

 grain is carried out once or twice a winter, but in most cases food 

 shortages extend over weeks or even months. Then, too, unless 

 stations are so placed as to be protected from winds and drifting 

 snow, the grain put out in the morning may be covered and unavail- 

 able by noon. 



Airplanes are reported to have been used effectively in dropping 

 bags of grain, which burst in falling, into coverts that otherwise 



could be reached 

 only with great 

 difficulty, as in 

 mountainous coun- 

 try inhabited by 

 wild turkeys. 



EAR CORN 



Ear corn may be 

 used effectively in 

 any of several ways ; 

 it may be hung on 

 wire fences or from 

 branches impaled 

 on nails driven 

 through boards 

 resting on sticks 

 (fig. 6), thrown 

 loose in protected 

 places, or even set 

 up in the snow. The 

 ears can be picked 

 up easily and moved 

 or stored, and they 



do not sink out of sight in snow so rapidly as does loose grain. 



Consequently not much of the corn is wasted. 



Figure 6. — Ear corn available at a lean-to station ; ring- 

 neeked pheasants feeding. (Courtesy Wisconsin Con- 

 servation Department.) 



STRAW STACKS 



Straw stacks frequently afford sheltered places bare of snow 

 on which ear corn, loose grain, haymow chaff, or screenings may be 

 thrown to good advantage. Some straw stacks also contain enough 

 waste grain and weed seeds to make it worth while to open them up 

 from time to time to expose a fresh supply. 



MANURE SPREADING 



In some sections the daily spreading of manure on snowy fields 

 is common enough to be an important factor in attracting game 

 birds throughout the winter, as the manure contains enough undi- 



