BIRDS IN GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 
URING the last year I have 
received quite a number of 
letters from all over the 
United States, inquiring 
why so few birds are 
found about the homes, among the 
ornamental shrubs and trees, and in 
the orchard. My correspondents also 
wish to know how our beautiful native 
songsters can be induced to take up 
their residence in the neighborhood of 
man. As the many inquiries came 
from the East, the West, the North, 
and the South, I shall treat the subject 
in the following manner : 
The northern, eastern, and central 
states show but little difference as to 
their bird-life, and there is also little 
diversity in regard to the ornamental 
trees and shrubs of the gardens. The 
region included is bounded on the 
the north by the British possessions, 
on the east by the Atlantic ocean, on 
the west by the Rocky mountains, and 
on the south by the Indian Territory, 
Arkansas, Tennessee, and North 
Carolina. While living in the country 
I have always had birds at my home 
and in the neighborhood, and I shall, 
therefore, give my own experience. 
Birds settle only where they find 
the surroundings perfectly congenial, 
and where they are protected and 
consequently feel safe ; where dense 
shrubbery, evergreens, and decid- 
uous trees abound, and where 
water and suitable nesting mater- 
ial are near at hand. In one gar- 
den they are exceedingly numerous, 
while in another one close by, only a 
few pairs, perhaps, are to be found. 
When protected, they soon learn to 
regard man as their friend. Their 
enemies, especially Cats, Squirrels, and 
Owls, must not be allowed to rove 
about in the garden and orchard, and 
such thieves and robbers as the Blue 
Jay, the Loggerhead Shrike or Butcher 
Bird, and that abominable tramp and 
anarchist among birds, the English 
Sparrow, should never be tolerated in 
a garden or park where other birds are 
expected to make their homes. 
In the days of my boyhood the 
groves re echoed with the songs of 
many birds ; the woods, however, have 
been cleared away, and in the poor 
remnants of the once magnificent 
forests there are few birds to be found 
today. The sweet notes of the Veery, 
the thundering sounds of the Ruffed 
Grouse, the loud hammering of the 
Pileated Woodpecker, are no longer 
heard. I have devoted much time to 
erecting bird houses and planting 
ornamental trees and shrubs for the 
accommodation of the birds. Here 
they soon took up their residences. 
On the top of the barn and granary 
Martin boxes were placed, and in the 
gables of the barn holes were cut to 
admit the pretty Barn Swallow and the 
Phoebe. Among the first birds to settle 
were the Robins and Bluebirds, both 
heralds of spring, appearing in the last 
days of March or early in April from 
their winter homes in our Southern 
States. The Baltimore Oriole sus- 
pended its beautiful hanging nest from 
a high horizontal branch of a Walnut 
tree. The Cedar Bird, quiet and 
retired in its habits, and a most beauti- 
ful denizen of the garden, placed its 
nest constructed of sheep's wool on a 
low horizontal branch of an Oak. The 
sprightly Canary-like song of the 
American Goldfinch, often called the 
Wild Canary, was heard throughout 
the summer, and its cozy little nest, 
lined warmly with thistle-down, was 
placed in the upright exterior branches 
of a Sugar Maple. In the same tree, 
but lower down on a horizontal branch 
the exquisite pendulous nest of trie 
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