"Perhaps the simplest scheme of feeding, the least trouble, and the most attractive to numbers of birds, is the tying of a piece of suet to a convenient limb, or perhaps to the balustrade of one's piazza, preferably in a protected spot and one that can at the same time be easily watched from some window" (see page 333) trays from the weather and at the same time admit light and allow of easy observation. These, when placed among the shrubbery about one's house, prove most attractive. Baron von Berlepsch has invented also a food bell that supplies grain, etc., automatically from a receptacle above, and which may be suspended from a tree or piazza roof, or any other convenient place (see page 331). Window boxes are a never-ceasing source of enjoyment. Mr. Ernest Harold Baynes built the first I ever saw at his home in Meriden, N. H.. a particularly attractive one, which has helped him to become intimate with an astonishing variety of birds (see page 336). Food shelves may be put up in all sorts of protected places-about houses, against tree trunks, etc.; and a food car, a sort of moving free-lunch counter, which may be run conveniently on a wire from window to neighboring tree, is actually manufactured by one enterprising gentleman; and the same man builds also a sheltered food-house that turns with the wind like a weather vane, so as to present always a lee side for the better protection of the birds (see page 326). Baron von Berlepsch originated also what he calls a food tree, a freshly cut evergreen, preferably spruce or fir, or perhaps a discarded Christmas tree, set up in some convenient place, over which has been poured hot, and then allowed to cool, a mixture of food that is attractive to both insectivorous and graminivorous birds, the receipt for which is given in the little book, "How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds": "White bread (dried and ground), 41⁄2 oz.; meat (dried and ground), 3 oz.; hemp, 6 oz.; crushed hemp. 3 oz.: maw, 3 oz. poppy flour, 11⁄2 oz.; millet (white) *For sale by the National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City, N. Y. Price, 40 cents. ON INTIMATE TERMS Photo by B. S. Bowdish This jolly little white-breasted nuthatch has just taken a dainty morsel from the lips of its friend. These little birds are very clever climbers and can run up and down tree trunks in the most agile manner. In all these foodhouses various kinds of food should be supplied suet, crumbs, millet, hemp, rapeseed, canary-seed, and the like. On my place the birds have such a wealth of natural food that it is only during the winter storms and when the ground is covered with snow that they visit the food-houses; but on many other placesas, for instance, in Meriden, N. H., where Mr. Baynes and the Meriden Bird Club are doing such good work-there have been food-houses erected on places along the main street, entirely apart from any protecting shrubbery or natural food supply, and many of these food-houses seem to be well patronized both winter and summer. Water, particularly during the summer months or times of drought, is, of course, necessary for the birds. If they can't get it on your place, they will be forced to look elsewhere. The proper installment of a drinking fountain or bird bath is a simple affair, and one that is almost sure to prove a great attraction. to the birds, as well as a never-failing source of entertainment to the owner. Drinking fountains may be purchased ready made or manufactured at home. Almost any shallow receptacle will do when placed in some quiet spot not too far from protecting shrubbery, but out of reach of skulking cats. Where the cats have not all been eliminated, it is sometimes safer to place the bath on a pedestal. A pool with foundation of concrete sunken in the ground, partially filled with earth and stones and planted with cattails, Japanese iris, or other moistureloving plants, or perhaps with waterlilies and inhabited by a few goldfish, can be made a very interesting feature of any garden, to say nothing of its attractiveness to birds. It is essential, however, that the slope of the sides should be gradual and the water at the edges shallow (see pages 338 and 339). If one has a brook or natural pond on the place, much can be done, particularly if the bottom of the pond is suitable for the planting of food for ducks. If the lay of the ground is such that a meadow Having accepted the invitation, the bird settles down to enjoy his meal. The fact that he must share a sandwich with his host does not disturb him, for, like all birds, he is quick to recognize and trust a human friend (see picture, page 334). or woodland glade may be flooded and a pond thereby installed, there is hardly any limit to the enjoyment that may be derived from a pond of this sort. ATTRACTING THE WILD DUCK There is a little woodland glade, containing an acre or so, on my place, an opening in the woods surrounded by red maples, birches, alders, poison sumach, white azalea, high-bush blueberries, etc., which I flooded one winter merely as a safe skating pond for the children in the neighborhood. Imagine my surprise and delight when one spring day, after the ice had gone out, I discovered there a whole flock of wild wood-ducks, and later during the summer was able to watch a flock of little "flappers," the progeny of a pair of wild black ducks that had bred there. Herons came there, too, and red wings frequented the edge of the pond. From ant uninteresting swamp the place had been |