re TH E*CA U DSU B OIN Sab UL eae 
Planting for the Birds 
(Editorial Note-—-Requests are continually being received in our office 
for lists of trees, shrubs and plants which are suitable and desirable 
in the promotion of wild bird life. We have at other times printed 
such lists and now feel that a reprinting of some of them will serve to 
supply an answer to these inquiries. We find the following from two 
of Illinois’ best known ornithologists who are no longer with us, but 
upon whose experience we are pleased to be able to draw. Of interest 
also will be the extracts from the University of Iowa Service Bulletin.) 
List of Plants Bearing Fruits Sought by Birds 
By ROBERT RIDGWAY 
The time is rapidly approaching—if, indeed, it is not already here 
—when our native birds will require all the help that we can give 
them. The “balance of nature” has been so profoundly disturbed 
through man’s influence that our wild life maintains a precarious 
existence, and very much of it will be gone almost before we realize it; 
in fact, not a few species, both of birds and other animals, as well as 
plants have become quite exterminated in Illinois within the memory 
of persons now living. 
From constantly increasing clearing of woodlands and destruction 
of thickets along roadsides and fence rows, the birds are annually 
deprived of more and more of their shelter, nesting places, and food 
supply; and these must, so far as we are able, be replaced if we are to 
keep our feathered friends as near neighbors. 
Fortunately many of the trees, shrubs, and other plants grown for 
ornamental purposes produce fruits which are relished by birds; and 
it is to acquaint the public with what kinds are best to plant that this 
list is issued. 
Of course, not all of the species named in the list can be grown 
in every part of Illinois. A few of them cannot be grown in the more 
northern counties on account of the severity of the winters; and to 
inform each person interested in the matter as to which ones can and 
which cannot be grown in his own particular county or section, those 
suitable only for southern Illinois are designated by an “‘S,”’ while those 
best for the opposite end of the state are distinguished by an “N,” it 
being understood that those not thus designated may be grown in both 
sections. It may be remarked, however, that while most, if not all, of 
them marked “S” cannot be grown out-of-doors in the extreme north- 
ern portion of the state, on account of the “climatic handicap,” prac- 
tically all of those marked “‘N”’ may be grown in the extreme southern 
portion, provided, of course, suitable soil and situation are selected; 
and in this connection attention may be called to the fact that the 
huckleberries and other ericaceous plants, which comprise the bulk of 
those growing naturally only in the more northern portion of the state, 
require an acid soil. Many of the soils of the southern counties are 
acid, however,—in fact, most of them are, in many sections—and 
therefore there should be no difficulty in finding places where these 
plants might thrive. 
