Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-28
ATTRACTING WILD BIRDS.
German METHODS Which Might Be
Used in United States.


Used in United States.
4 How 10 keep the birds on the farm
is the problem which is now added To
the old one of how to keep the young
people there 1t is not long ago that
we thought we did not want the bird
!. on the farm. We set up scarecroWs
/. TO drive him and his friends away
/ We banged at the flocks with the old
smooth bore army mus<et that
( Granddad brought back from the early
battles of the Civil War. All this we
did honestly under the mistaken idea
that the birds were harmful to the
growing crops. In fact they We're,
and we knew they were. Did not the
robins and cherrybrds come in flocks
Tor the cherries? Did not the black
birds and crows pull up the young
!. corn till We had to plant it all over
again, even unto the third and fourth
termination? They certainly did,
: and we did not snow that all the time
they were eating noxious insects that
were far more harmful to the crops
than the birds in whatever numbers
could possibly be.
We have learned that now by sad
experience and we are sorry for the
things we did. If we could lure the
birds back 10; the farm, 70. the country
place. to the suburban garden in the
fiocks that once came there without
/; Invitation, we would gladly plant corn
! and ripen cherries for them Ii may
y be that in years to come we, or our
= successors on the farm and the coun-
! try place, may be able to do this.
There are signs that the balance of
bird life even here in the densely
populated East is about to swing
toward the side of increase once more,
Aroused public sentiment. increased
numbers of protective laws and their
: enforcement, all work in that direc-
,tion. That the good work may go
on and that we may see more of and
be better able to protect these birds
which we hope are coming back,
many people are interested i'm means
for attracting them and holding them.
with their consent, once they are at
tracted.
IL is no longer a case of one or two
prophets crying i'm the wilderness that
the birds ought TO be saved, We have
all come TO understand. Hardly A
town but has its local branch of the
Audubon Society, with Jealous menu
bers working for the bird welfare OF
! the neighborhood, often times with an
-eagerness that is matched only by its
exasperating futility. The fact is
birds are not to be attracted in
minute. The region must be right for
: them or they viii pass. it by and go ON,
to some that better supplies their
needs.
The Germans with their usual thor
oughness have gone into the matter
OF protecting birds much deeper than
we Americans have2for all our recent
. " aroused enthusiasn1-and it is to
them that we must look for details Of
successful plans which may be applied
quite directly on this side of the At
lantic. The Park Commission of our
State, ruling thousands of acres OF
wild woodland whose underbrush they
clean up with feverish energy, might
swell take a lesson from the following
order issued by the Finance Depart
Inent of the Grand Duehy of Saxony
to the Woods and Forest Department;
when the trees are being topped
the underground is to be preserved as
lar do ppcSlDlS d., dPctiA AVN ~
value for the woods and for game II
provides the birds with sheltered
breeding places, of which they readily
avail themselves Where birds are
known TO breed freely, especially near
water certain suitable thiekets are to
be left untouched. As far as possible
topping is not to be carried on dun !
ing the chief breeding season. in
young plantations l. e.. from the mid
die of MAY to the middle Of July. As
many species prefer stacks Of wood
and brushwood as breeding pla ces,
and many broods are destroyed as
they are carted away. care should be
taken TO remove the wood before
breeding season begins. as it is gen
orally impossible to wait till its close.
E Hedges are not to be pruned till the
close Of the breeding season. Nat :
ural hedges. bushes and thorns should
be left as far az possible on the sides
Of the roads. and on embankments.
Z. Berry bearing trees and bushes whose
berries tend 10 preserve and keep
healthy the singing birds. must be
preserved aud cultivated as much as
possible Damp or marshy spots and
poois are not TO be drained IL possible,
4 especially as the preservation Of
water is important for woods from the