44 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
LUNCH COUNTERS FOR THE WINTER BIRDS 
The Feathered Guests Every Man Can Entertain — A Good Kiddie’s 
Christmas Gift to Its Playmates 
ROBERT S. LEMMON 
Photographs by Beecher S. Bowdish 
D EEP snow and a bitter wind, though 
the sky is cloudlessly blue. Fence 
tops level with the fields, weed stalks 
broken and buried in the white blanket. 
A chickadee, fluffed against the cold, 
busily scouring the trees for his 
meager sustenance. December — and 
the time to feed the birds. 
How to go about it? Well, there 
are various ways. Brush shelters in 
the fields and woods, where grain may 
lie scattered on the ground and pro¬ 
tected from fresh falls of snow; feed¬ 
ing shelves of various types; suet tied 
to the trees or contained in some of 
the convenient wire 
holders; almost any 
place where food is 
spread will attract 
our native birds 
during severe 
weather. For now 
more than at any 
other time they need 
man’s help, and to 
those who have nev¬ 
er sought the friend- 
ship of birds 
through the medium 
of a winter food 
supply, the ready re¬ 
sponse to their ef¬ 
forts in this direc¬ 
tion will come as a 
distinct surprise. 
There are few 
suburban places 
where birds cannot 
be induced to pa- 
these results, a brief description of some 
of the best of which may be useful here as 
a guide to this fascinating branch of house 
and garden activities. 
Sheltered Food Houses 
Prominent among the successful 
“stations” are the sheltered food 
houses designed to be set upon a pole 
either near a massing of shrubbery 
or quite isolated on the open lawn. 
The general construction of most of 
these is similar: a weatherproof roof 
with walls more or less glazed, open 
for entrance on at least one side and 
built about a flat 
shelf on which the 
grain or seed is scat¬ 
tered. Such a shel¬ 
ter may be 2 or 3 
feet square, and if 
pivoted on the pole 
like a weathervane, 
with suitable wings 
extending from its 
open side, it will al¬ 
ways face the wind 
a n d automatically 
keep its interior free 
from snow. In all 
o f these enclosed 
shelters the glass of 
the front or sides 
allows one to watch 
its patrons to the 
best advantage. In 
this way, also, the 
tiny guests are well 
protected. 
tronize feeding stations close to or even 
upon the house itself, to their own physical 
benefit and the delight of their hosts. Many 
devices have been perfected to bring about 
With a glass-sided weather¬ 
cock food house you can 
watch the birds closely. $8 
This feeding shelf 
costs only $1.50. 
Above is a Junco 
This four-apartment Martin 
house, built on rustic lines, 
will shelter a host of birds. 
