The TOM MTOBAUST: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 152. OCTOBER 7th, 1882. Yol. 3. 



BIRD TROUGHS. 



KIND regard for wild birds is much 

 more common now-a-dajs than 

 it was in years gone by. It was then 

 tliought that the blackbird that ate our 

 cherries, or the sparrow that devoured 

 our grain, were thieves only, and 

 worthy of no better fate than to be 

 shot or snared. Now w^e know that 

 while the small birds may occasionally 

 steal a little of our fruit or grain crops, 

 the benefits they bestow in return in 

 destroying injurious insects is of incal- 

 culable more value. Our purpose to- 

 day is not to speak of the q^idd pro qiio 

 we receive in return for any kindness 

 or protection we may bestow on our 

 feathered friends, but more particularly 

 to urge our readers to show that kind- 

 ness through the coming winter in one 

 of the best ways yet suggested. No 

 doubt many of our young readers have 

 erected " bird boxes " during the past 

 summer, and have been interested in 

 observing the various species that have 

 liiade use of thism for nesting purposes. 

 13 ut in summer time, when food is 

 plentiful, birds can always find places 

 to nest in and enough to eat and to 



supply their young ones, so that how- 

 ever interesting the erection of " bird 

 boxes " may be to those who like to 

 watch the nesting process, it is perhaps 

 not much real help to the birds them- 

 selves. But winter is coming on ; the 

 earth will soon be frozen hard or 

 covered with snow, and these little 

 wayfarers will find they have a hard 

 struggle to preserve life. They have 

 not learnt to lay up a store for winter 

 use, so when winter comes they have to 

 seek their daily bread as usual, though 

 all the usual sources of supplies are 

 stopped. Larvse of insects of all sorts 

 are hiding in hybernation, and the hips 

 and haws are soon eaten up. As win- 

 ter increases in severity, birds come froai 

 inland districts to the sea-side or the 

 neighbourhood of towns in their search 

 for food, and then is the time when it is 

 easy to assist in their preservation. 

 There are few drinking fountains 

 without their trough at the bottom 

 where the waste water serves for dogs 

 or cattle. Birds have also been seen 

 to take their share at times, but drink- 

 ing fountains generally have their 

 supply cut off during winter, and, iu 



