Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-28


bird requires water in the immediate
vicinity of its nest and the want of it
has robbed entire tracts of useful!
bifCs.
'DeeaYed trees of small value
which the useful birds that nest in
holes prefer as breeding places should
be preserved if their destruction IS
not absolutely necessary In confer
Gus ard deciduous thicl<ets brushwooI
should be piled on wooden stands ."
serve as breeding places for singing
birds that build in the open. These
stands must he made Of poles and
rest on feet some six and half feet
high. They must be provided with
barb wire or thorns as a protection
against weasels. martens, eats, etc,
and the neighborhood of trees with
low branches should be avoided, SO
that the vermin cannot jump from
the branches on to the stand. In adj
dition nesting places can be easily
made for birds breeding in the open
if densely foliaged or coniferous
branches are bent together and tied,
the lower part coming uppermost.
This not only makes firm founda-
IlOH lDT LllC DtSts DlN BioNit'No q SUI
able shelter. AS a bird when sitting
has a great desire for water, this can
be provided by small dams at the
spring heads and in some places by
1eepefifng darfip spots! Special ATT
tention must be paid TO reducing YER
min. which are dangerous to the birds
and their young, and especially cats.
which are so very harmful. SOUR
rels, magpies. jays. iackdaws and
crows must not be allowed to increase
unduly..
There is whole sermon on the best
way to attract and keep wild birds IN
the foregoing the handling or
shruhbery ard thickets in the near
by woods and pastures and on the
grounds about the house itself, SO that
shelter may be provided for such BIRDS
as come. Without this shelter of thick
ct and shrubbery they will not remain
as barren miles within our carefully
wrecked park and reservation wood
lands attest. No amount of feeding ana
housing will make up for the loss Oh
the sheltering thickets The wild thick
cts may be allowed to remain, they
may lie allowed to come in again nat
uraIly by sprouting or by seed or pest
of all they may be planted. Mr.. Fred
eriek II. Kennard in the July-August
number of Bird Lore gives list o.
trees shrubs, vines and herbaccous
plants native to New England, bearing
fruit or seeds attractive to bros,
which is admirable, and which
he who plants viii do we'll to con care
fully. AS the German leaders in tie
movement Of bird protection counsel
tho autumn is the time in Which, to
prepare The soil and select the shrubs
and lay the plans for the spring plant
ing. AS for the time at Which shrubs
should be set authorities differ, some
preferring spring, others fall setting
Probably either if done right, is sat
isfactory.
Baron Hans Won Berlepsch is today
recognized as the great German au-
thority on the protection of birds. All
Of our presentday welfare work for
them in the woods and fields is based
upon his ideas and Is most successful
when il follows his plans. The order
of the Saxon authorities quoted is bas-
ed directly on the system which he
worked out by twenty years of study
of the lives and ways of wild birds.
on his great estate of Seebach in the
district of Thuringia he has an eXpe-
rimental area of 500 acres of which
10 acres are park 90 thickets Of willow
and poplar and 400 acres are of wood
The park, which surrounds his ancient
castle is of interest to botanists. as
it contains examples of all the trees OF
central Europe, but it is of more in
terest to lovers of bird life. for the
grounds have been laid out with spec
ial reference TO the protection of birds.
A luxuriant underground thriVes even
where the woods are densest and
bushes are specially pruned or tied up
to give breeding places to birds In the
park alone are three hundred nesting
tant wood are 1000. all Inhabited dur
ing the breeding season by such birds
as build in holes.
So important was the work thus pri-
Yately carried on found to be that in
| 1908 the place was taken by the State
as model and central station for the
protection of birds. There in the au-
tumn of that year We're held the first
courses in instruction in bird protec-
ton. and there to this day the work,
continually growing and broadening, is
carried on. 1t has attracted attention
and led to similar efforts on private