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Show FEEDING THE BKDSW WINTER Many people who try to attract birds about their homes fall In their efforts, not because their methods are wrong, but lecause they lack that practical knowledge of small details that often makes the difference between be-tween success and failure. It should bo understood at the outset out-set that such foods as we may be ablo lo offer birds will be used "by them mainly as a makeshift at times when their natural food supply Is short. For this reason when we bcsln feed ing, the supply must be constant during dur-ing the winter months or we shall fail to accomplish our object. The birds may desert our artificial feeding places in fine weather, but if the supply is kept up and In the right way they will surely find it in Inclement In-clement weather, when they most need it. The objection so often urged that In feeding the birds wc shall pauperize pauper-ize them should have no weight, as Insect eating birds always prefer their natural food to anything that we may bo able to supply them; but by feeding feed-ing birds in winter wo may save their lives when snow and ice have covered their natural food Bupply. i No one living in the countrv districts dis-tricts is so poor that he cannot feed the birds, for if nothing else offers chaff, hayseed, meat trimmings and scraps will answer every purpose. It Is ono of tho joys of winter in the country to watch the birds about the farmhouse. Feeding should begin iu October or November so that migratory migra-tory birds may make the place their winter home. ITayseed and chaff may be scattered about the yard on the sheltered sunny side of the building or under an open shed facing to the south ! Scratching sheds for poultry mak excellent feeding places for the birds, i : 1$ for they will always find there some 1 J seeds or fine particles of grain that " the hens hav missed. Bits of suet, I bones broken to expose the marrow j or fai pork may be used to attract " woodpeckers, nuthatches and chicka- ,fr dees. These may be tied to the )m branches of the orchard or trees about F the house, and if the fat or suet is & likely to be carried off by cats, Gogs, R crows, squirrels or jays, it may be wound about with twine or covered ' L with "collar wire" netting so that the ? birds can peck it out piece-meal, and jt nothing can carry It away bodily. The ' birds, finding these titbits in" their x excursions about the neighborhood, ' L will begin to nip at them occasionally, , P meanwhile feeding mainly on hiber- . cf nating insect pests. , To attract the birds to our very ; windows where we can watch their cunning ways wo must gradually draw r I in our feeding stations until these ' feathered neighbors gather around the fin house. There, by right methods, we ! fe( may soon teach them to come wher- ,; t- cver we want them. A feeding shelf, '' ffi about 2x4 feet, may be put upon a Rj post in tho yard, out of the reach of , t cats; a little evergreen tree may be jj erected upon it, hayseed may be f it scattered upon the shelf, and suet, J tc doughnuts, nuts, etc, may be lied up- , on the tree until all the birds have learned to. come to it, when the other ' feeding places may be gradually dis- continued and this one may be made f, permanent. |