Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/605

Rh birds on the place. But during the winter most of the species migrated. He then began to experiment to see how many he could induce to remain all the year round.

He built a few bird houses around, the place, gradually increasing the number each year. He also built a number of bird baths. The rustic bird houses, which are preferred by the birds, he made of wood with the bark on.

It was not long until the number and species of birds about the place increased amazingly. What was equally important, many which had been regarded as migratory remained the year round. Last winter he induced such birds to stay as the chickadee,

white-breasted nuthatch, downy wood-pecker, brown creeper, cardinal, blue jay, hairy woodpecker, white-throated sparrow, pine siskin, fox sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, goldfinch, tohee, robin and other species.

The work of feeding the birds has resulted in the construction of a special design of food box to hold suet. Mr. White discovered that when suet was placed on the ground or limbs of trees without protection the bigger birds crowded out the smaller and weaker ones and took possession of the entire supply. In order to prevent this the box now used was constructed. It consists of a curved piece of steel that protects the bark of the tree upon which it is hung. The front is covered with a strong wire net that is sufficiently coarse to admit the bills of the hungry birds, but too fine to allow them to remove all of the suet supply at once.

A fresh water bath, according to Mr. White, is the best thing on earth to attract birds. Some of his baths are on stands and some are built in the ground. These baths, he says, have undoubtedly drawn more birds to his place than all the food he has offered them. He soon found that some species of birds are afraid of the ground baths, but will bathe in those that are raised, and vice versa.