PARK AND CEMETERY. 
75 
ENCOURAGING BIRD LIFE IN CEMETERIES 
The National Association of Audubon 
Societies has launched a campaign to en- 
list the cemeteries in the work of bird 
protection by encouraging the presence of 
wild birds in the cemetery grounds. 
"While the average visitor to cemeteries 
is frequently impressed with the song of 
birds.” said T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary 
of the association, who has brought for- 
ward the plan, "this is due rather to the 
usual quiet and perhaps to the receptive 
mood of the person. The number of birds 
is really small compared to what it would 
be were but a little effort made. i\Iuch 
has been done to drive birds away from 
cemeteries. Frequently there is not a yard 
of underbrush where a thrasher or vireo 
can build its nest. There are no pools or 
other means for the birds to slake their 
thirst. Tree surgery has closed the cavi- 
ties whence titmouse, wren or bluebird 
formerly issued to console the lonely vis- 
itor. Fruit-bearing trees have been re- 
moved and there is an absence of berry- 
bearing shrubs, such as birds enjoy.” 
The association, in addition to the above 
suggestions, is urging the exclusion of gun- 
ners and cats from the cemeteries, the lat- 
ter through the use of cat-proof fences. 
The placing of bird boxes in trees is rec- 
ommended, as well as the construction of 
fountains or other drinking places for the 
birds. Food in the way of growing black- 
berries, strawberries or mulberries is sug- 
gested, while many cemeteries are said to 
have ample waste space where buckwheat 
and other small grain could be planted 
without detracting from the beauty of the 
landscape. The supplying of food in other 
ways as well as the provisions for nest- 
building are among other suggestions con- 
tained in a circular just issued by the as- 
sociation. which, Mr. Pearson says, he will 
mail to all persons interested in having 
their city cemetery converted into a bird 
sanctuary. 
In order to get the views of the ceme- 
tery people on the practical character of 
these suggestions, P.^KK a.vd Cemetery ad- 
dressed the following questions to a large 
number of cemeteries: 
“Do you encourage the presence of birds 
on the cemetery grounds? 
Do you know of any objections to birds 
in the cemetery? 
Are there some varieties of birds that 
are objectionable, and if so. which are 
they ? 
Do you believe cemeteries should en- 
courage the birds, and if so. how?” 
♦ ♦ • 
Following are some extracts from the 
replies received : 
“Do you encourage the presence of birds 
on the cemetery grounds?” Indecfl we do. 
We love birds and coax and protect them. 
“Do you know of any objections to birds 
in the cemetery?” No, none whatever. Of 
course, they are naughty sometimes, so, 
too, are our children, but we love them 
and forgive them. 
“Are there some varieties of birds that 
are objectionable, and if so, which are 
they?” Well, the robins perch on the heads 
of granite angels and bronze statesmen, 
leaving unseemly evidence of their visits, 
but that can be washed off, so, too, can the 
blue-black blotches of elderberry time. A 
couple of years ago the army worm was a 
plague with us, and while it was here we 
had many graves prettily sodded with 
sedum or carpeted with alternanthera ; 
when it was time to pupate the worms 
seemed to have a marked preference for 
these nicely fi.xed graves and buried them- 
selves an inch or two in the soft ground. 
Then along came the robin and the spar- 
row and dug up the befatted army morsel, 
tearing out and scattering the sedum or 
alternanthera carpet to get at their prey. 
Of course, the Italian gardeners were mad 
and swore a little, but in a foreign tongue 
that neither the birds nor myself could un- 
derstand, so we didn’t mind what they said. 
The dickies kept on digging and I repair- 
ing, and in a few weeks all was over and 
all of us were happy — and mighty glad the 
birds were still with us. 
Most decidedly, I believe we should en- 
courage the birds; feed them, shelter them 
and protect them. In cemeteries, as a rule, 
there are lots of trees and shrubs and vines 
sufficient for sheltering and nesting pur- 
poses, but these can be greatly augmented 
by introducing artificial nesting houses, or- 
namental in their way as well as useful, 
and appropriately placed to suit the several 
genera of birds. And in most cemeteries 
there is open water, either as streams or 
lakes, sufficient for the feathered needs. 
Now, about feeding the birds: In ceme- 
teries in a broken or timber country there 
generally is a good deal of natural wood- 
land and lanes or belts of wild trees and 
shrubs, say, including bird cherry, dogwood, 
wild roses, elderberry, June berry, sumach, 
barberry, hercules club, and other ‘Ferry” 
or small fruit bearing shrubs or vines, to- 
gether with pokeberry, sunflower, coreop- 
sis and other seed-bearing herbaceous and 
annual plants and grasses, and all of these 
bear food for birds. To these in a deco- 
rative way may be added many plants 
whose fruit enlarge the bird larder; for in- 
stance, the single roses, viburnums of 
sorts, yellow flowering currant, snowberry, 
Indian currant, Japanese crabapples, ben- 
zoin bush, Boston ivy, junipers; in fact, 
most anything that will bear and ripen 
berries or other fruit. Above all things, 
give elderberry, mulberry and hercules club 
the preference as summer footl. And some 
superintenflcnts, like myself, who live in 
the cemetery and have a big garden, but no 
scarecrow, are compelled to pay toll to the 
birds in cherries, strawberries, currants. 
corn and other things, but bless you, there 
is enough in the yard for both of us. In 
winter we feed the birds systematically. 
To make a man useful you have got to 
keep him busy, more especially a police- 
man, and that is why we have a good one. 
We have two policemen who patrol the 
cemetery faithfully all night — at any rate, 
before I go to bed — and they protect the 
grounds, including the birds, from night 
prowlers, both bipedal and quadrupedal, of 
all kinds. It would ruin the day policeman 
if he had nothing to do but twirl his club, 
so in the summer time, in addition to pa- 
trol duties, he is also timekeeper and of- 
ficial mole-catcher ; in the winter time he 
is timekeeper and bird-man. We buy mixed 
bird seed — grain, cracked corn, milled sun- 
flower and some other seeds — and distrib- 
ute this at certain feeding places, both on 
the ground and on little table-like boards, 
eight or nine feet up on the trees. A very 
little goes a long way. He also keeps a 
supply of suet in flat wire nests fastened 
to the trees. The whole thing is exceed- 
ingly simple and inexpensive, and our 
“Bobby” is so proud of his job that he 
thinks every bird in the cemetery knows 
him. True, the sparrows are the chief 
beneficiaries, but what of that? Who would 
not shudder to see a sparrow starving of 
hunger? Wm. Falconer, 
Supt., Allegheny Cemetery. 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
We do encourage the presence of birds 
in the cemetery grounds and know of no 
objections to them except possibly in the 
case of crows, owls and hawks, by reason 
of their destroying the young of other 
birds. 
The writer is inclined to believe that the 
planting of dense shrubbery covers together 
with the abundance of trees, which are, or 
should be, in cemeteries, with special at- 
tention to the planting of berry-bearing 
shrubs and trees, the providing of water 
and the occasional feeding in the winter, 
is all that is really necessary. If bird 
houses are used, they should be of the non- 
artificial character and of such color and 
kind as would not be conspicuous. We do 
not use them in this cemetery. 
One would add to the list of birds that 
are objectionable, of course, the ever- 
present Ivnglish s|)arrow. 
W. N. Rudd, 
President, Mt. Greenwood Gem. 
Chicago, 111. 
We encourage the presence of birds on 
the cemetery grounds and do not know of 
any objections to any of thetn except b.ng- 
lish siitirrows. We believe cemeteries 
should encourage the birds by killing cats 
and s(|uirrels, providing good nesting 
I)laces, fruit bearing trees and shrubs — dog- 
wood, boneysuckles. elderberries, viburn- 
ums. mountain ash — and bv i)rotecting birds 
