The Oregon daily journal., August 16, 1908, Page 36, Image 36

. ,1
ric .. fmnvMu.1
I ,5m'W. rkVV d - kuSfe (wflwfMw3
It is Easy to Give Shelter to OurSP wHl i8Wwiii,
Feathered Neighbors
y SONG of birds outside your win
fi dow in the morning. A robin flit
. . tmZ from tree to tree, a bobolink
making merry in the green meadow, a
mocking-bird thrilling the air nearby.
Birds are called the friends of man.
XThey greet him on sunny mornings. They
would be sociable, if permitted. Yet how
few people, comparatively, may be called
friends of the birds! J
You should love the innocent, soft
vnnged little creatures that call to you
from the trees and make the summer lively
with warble and chirp. Perhaps you some
times regret that there are so few about
your home. But have you ever invited them
to come?. Do you do anything to help the
birds live, to assist them over hard spells,
trver the "financial flurries" of the bird
world want of food, bad winters? '
You can do much; you can build homes
for them, give them food and lend them a
helping hand. Grave government experts
prophesy terrible things when the birds are
gone, and there has been a decrease in num
bers amounting to JI per cent, within fifteen
years in a single state. They do so much
to help man by warring on crop-destroying
insects, and are such a joy about the home,
that they should be protected.
' u th brtb ot Morn, ha rialnr Sweet
with tb charm or e&rllett birds. Hilton.
ACCORDING to tcientista, dire conditions
follow a decrease in the number of our
feathered1 friends. Already the loss in
cro?' fcy insects caused by an insuf
ant nuraber of birds ia estimated as ei
fcedmg Bullions of dollars a year.
Tho question of importance now ia. Will
TZlL? th bird4' WiU you Uo your
indindual aharo to prerent their decrease! Of
aTTdfl Tar m tion is, What
First thintr-jnTite the birds , to com to
W rid. with them! And when
,T,hZ9 domiclkl theojelTe. about your homo
treat tnem eourteously just as though the
wert rreatl desired guesu.
TOE OREGON SUNDAY1 JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY
This is a time of year
when you can begin to
get ready for your visi
tors of next spring. One
of the best means to pro
tect domestic birds is to
put up a number of bird
boxes.
Kow, when you make
bird boxes you will have
to bear in mind many
things. While your guests
will not be overparticular,
various birds prefer dif
ferent kinds of home ac
commodations. Besides, you want to attract the
good-natured birds, the day laborers, who will
work for you. You don't want to open a loafing
house for English sparrows. Bird boxes, accord
ing to experts, should have time to- age. So now
is a good time to put them up for next spring's
tenants.
During the fall you will find the making of
bird homes an interesting occupation. Houses
among the more picturesque kinds can be made
with windows, which, however, should be secure
ly fastened, so that draughts cannot blow
through.
Most amateur bird-house carpenters con
strue; the simpler designs, with perches, or plat
forms, as shown by the small picture above. You
re advised not to do this, as a platform is re
garded as a special invitation by English spar
rows. They generally do not visit bouses at
which they cannot perch be for the door. Eng
lish eparxqwa also will not sett in boxes that
swing.
An easily constructed house may be made
f a log with a hoi bored in the center with aa
anger. Borne of tha smaller birds delight ia
theaa rustio shelters, -
J7yS7?'- y7 Trees.
-fit
aMSBMSflasfflEBissasa
4 SSX$f&ttsbS5G -bee
?00277S.
Wrens are easily pleased, and a home made
of an empty tin can proves inviting to them.
This is easily made by melting off the rim at one
end and placing over it a circular board with a
hole cut in the center just big enough to permit
the wren to enter. -Thin protects the bird from
the attacks of English sparrows and jays, which
are too big to get through the doorway.
In placing a bird bouse you must take into
consideration the height preferred by birds.
Martins usually select a home about thirty fet
from &e ground, while bluebirds prefer to nest
about tea or fifteen" feet from the grass. Houses
at this height will also attract -duckadees and
titmio but wren prefer hornet orach lower.
5 ;. 1-
HORNING. ADuUST t6. 1903
Another thing, don't forget that most birds
do not favor apartment houses. Martins will
nest in colonies, but most birds prefer indi
vidual homes. These great houses for the mar
tins, however, should not be placed in the midst
of trees or shrubbery, but in an open space.
These birds delight to wheel and fly about in
the air.
If you have small boxes, such as cigar
boxes, these can be utilized as homes for the
birds. The box should be placed upright, with
the lid lifted at an angle of about thirty-five
degrees. This will form a roof and give the
birds plenty of space.
Robins do not like confined houses, but pre
fer freer accommodations, such as his. Phoebes
also are partial to these rudely arranged homes.
And woodpeckers, nuthatches, bluebirds and
wrens just gurgle with delight when they find an
old stump with holes' already bored for them.
Of course, the building of homes is only
one of the many favors xou can do fo the lit
tle creatures. The reason for the decrease in
birds is because of their destruction by men,
and the failure to supply means of protection,
especially in the winter.
Winter feeding is one of the most impor
tant phases of bird preservation. And the birds
near your home are not the only; ones that need
food, but those in the forests.
When the ground is covered with snow and
ice, and cold winds are blowing, the poor little
things suffer greatly. Each winter reaps its
harvest of feathered victims.
HOW CHILDREN MAY HELP
v
In many towns throughout the country so
cieties have been formed for the winter feeding
of birds. School children, after lessons, find de
light in trotting off to tho woods provided with
snow shovels, grain, bird sqed, fatty meat and
suet. The meat and suet may betied to the
trunks of trees.
If there is danger of squirrels or larger
birds stealing it, the meat may be fastened to
the trunk under a square foot of one-half inch
wire netting. The birds can get their beaks
through this and get their fill.
In the center of a'field a space ten feet .
square is cleared and the seed scattered on the
ground. Were it sprinkled on the snow, it would
sink m too deep for the birds to reach. In 1903
the high school boys of Stoneham, Mass, formed .
a feeding club, and sUbUhd-afventy-five feed-
ing stations about their town. : A Canton,
Mass, societies have beeu formed and prizes
given ia the schools for tha best sssyon the
result . of ' their winter- feeding. ' Tha ttata
Toard of Education of Connecticut some tim
ago issued instructions for the feeding of birds
during the winter on circular platforms to be
erected aboufr the school flagstaffs.
Out in the fields should also be erected
shelters, made of brush, set up like a hayrick.
Or cornstalks piled on the sides of iences will
offer a place of warmth during cold spells.
There boys can take food, such as stale bread,
cracked corn and buckwheat.
WHAT TO DO NOW
Good deeds such as these you can do, if
you live in or near the country, next winter.
"But if you wish to attract birds about your,
house in the winter," "writes Edward Howe For-:
bush, an authority, "you must begin now. Scat-i
ter a little hayseed on the bare ground about
the yard. Hang some pieces of suet or beef
trimming on the branches of trees beyond the
reach of dogs and cats. ,
"If, at first, these . pieces are somewhat
widely scattered at points radiating from the
house as a center, your success should be as
sured. Your lures will keep best at this season
if tied on the shady side of a tree trunk ; but in
the winter they should be put on the sunny
side."
By doing this , you 'may retain birds about
your home which would ordinarily go South.
By degrees $r&w the feeding stations nearer
your home, and the birds will come closer. Dur
ing the winter suet is an excellent food for the
birds. If you succeed in winning their friend
ship, and they stay until the spring, you may
depend that they will keep your trees and plant
free from destructive vermin."
Many persons who have succeeded in form
ing such colonies about their homes supply tho
birds-with opportunities for food. '. George T.
PowelL-an agricultural expert, of Ghent, N. Y,
advocates the raising of a cpecies of early cher
ries for the birds. These are overripe by th
time the other cherries ripen, and naturally the
birds stick to their own tree. Many raisers of
strawberries, who are friendly to the birds, plant
a row of early berries for them. They assert
the birds never touch the later varieties.
.Ton can help the birds' by having about
your home a few fruit-bearing shrubs, such at
raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, mulber
ries, tne enow cnerry or , wild cnerry. Let
there be thickets about your grounds for shy
birds, and in time ot nrstiftjr prertnt any dis-
turbing and unnecesssry noises. In the spring
you can help the birds by placing on the ground
materials for nests, and pant of znud for robi&a
and sparrow. , " -