Evening star., 1944-11-17
This and That
By Charles E. Traceuell.

How to have window box feeding
station for the birds is explained in the
following letter.
just In case some of your readers
might wish to have window sill feed
ing station like ours" he says, here is
pattern for them to follow.
"A box, 6 by by inches. open al; one
end, with the floor board inches longer
at the open end, that is, extended at
that end-forming a porch-arount3
which Is tackled strip of wood like a
solid fence, inch higher than the floor
On this fence the birds alight to peck
at the food, which in fair weather is
put on the porch. If it is rainy weather
l push the seed back into the box where
IL Is protected from the rain-and thev
go in after it, too.
Inc box open end faces south.
Inc box is anchored to the window
Sill by an eyelet screwed into the box
ana a small brass hook screwed into the
aoJacent woodwork so it cannot be
blown OH in stormy weather: the hoy
nelng made of lightweight wood of half
inch thickness - plywood preferably
nonwarping. '''
Il left my box natural wood color
without any painting. The box need
not pe more than or 5 inches high
Wioe and deep, If one has narrow win
dow ledge.
win this simple ARRANGEMENT of
nox, costing next to nothing, one can
nave lot Of pleasure watching the
pros come to eat. 1t is lot of salts
faction as well.
only one mocking bird has called on
us thus far this autumn.
The birds stream to our window ell,
feeding station by the hundreds from
across the street, park.
T1tmice. nuthatches, chickadees five
or six blue jays in the MORNINGS ~
every day, occasionally several varieties
redbirds "A'N
The blue jays announce their cor,;no
VIII iouo SquaWks and cries and all the
otler olros make way for them. These
Jays are bold and cunning birds; 1t is
as eooo as circus to watch them gobble
down the shelled, peanuts.
we feed them raw shelled peanuts
ana sunnower seeds. The latter are be-
coming harder to get and more expen-
sive than lest winter"
Inere are many ways of putting up 4
window sill feeding station.
Our correspondents method is a good
one. eooA
Even bare sill will do, in pinch.
Inc food which falls to the ground Will
oe gobbled up by birds on that level hut.
OF course, the donor will not be able to
watch them. w
lnen, too, there is often some one to
complain below! Complaint seems to be
chronic with human beings. They are
not happy unless they are kicking about
something
Bird friends in apartments ought to
De very careful in trying not to offend
others with their hobby, because it not
only causes unpleasantness, but "sets"
many against the birds.
Care should be taken, then, to prevent
food from falling, or to clean 1t up at
regular intervals, If the birds should
not get 1t.
The window sill feeding place offers
the closest view most Of us will get al
the live songbirds. On cold winter
morning there is no prettier sight than
q female cardinal at close range.
Only such close inspection will reveal
what q perfect marvel Of beauty she is
far SURPRISING her mate.
few peanuts should be left In the
shell for the jays to carry away. The
blue Jay is great hoarder, and does
good work In helping to provide for the
squirrels and smaller birds. What he
hides, they find, because both their pow
ers Of smelling and seeing are as power
full as his. Certainly there Is no more
amusing creature around the city than
the jay. He Is at once q beauty and q
clown, and comes In family groups In
fall and winter. The daily visits Of these
big bright birds usually come In the
mornings. Often they come at almost
the same minute, and leave in is or 20
minutes, to be seen no more until next
morning at the same time. This
periodicity Is one Of the unusual traits
Of Almost unusual nyer.