Evening star., 1945-01-31
This and That
. By Charles E. Trace1Dell.
"OIJINcv STREET

QUINCY STREET.
Dear Sir:
For number of winters / have been
feeding a lone mocking bird raisins,
whole wheat bread and suet. place the
food on an upper window sill. On the
veranda below food and water are also
placed on small table for the other
birds and the mocking bird never mo-
Tests these birds but seems interested
in watching them eat
Il also put out prepared suet pud-
ding stuffed with seeds which fits in
a wooden frame used as feeder, which
can be hung on tree or a sturdy shrub
Il used to make these puddings but
now they can be readily obtained in
pet stores.
1T is interesting to note the following
old recipe printed in an English book
called The English Year-Autumn and
Winter
white bread, dried and ground, Az
ounces; meat, dried and ground, 3
ounces; hemp, ounces; crushed hemp,
ounces; maize, ounces poppy -four,
11a ounces millet, white, ounces; oats,
Ia ounces; dried elder berries, IL
ounces; sunflower seed, IL ounces, and
hIlIo cBSS, ~ OullCeS.
Il notice that all the birds drink a
great amount of water especially these
cold days, but they are not one bit in
terested in leaves of lettuce or celery
leaves placed in the feeder. I have
often wondered why that is so.
II enjoy your articles very much.
Sincerely, M. S. c."
+ 4 ~
The reason why winter birds do not
eat celery and lettuce is simply that
they do not like them.
They do not eat such foods in spring
and summer, hence do not find them
to their liking even when 1t is cold
Especially if there is other food around
they like! In this they are very human
Who would touch spinach for instance,
If there were other foods on the table?
The old English recipe for a bird
food or pudding very much resembles
an old German one, which runs as fol-
lows: Meat, dried and ground, 3
ounces; bread, dried and ground, S
ounces; hemp seed, 5 ounces; millet
ounces; ants eggs, ounces st1nfower
seed, ounces, and dried berries, IL
ounces.
half times as much suet melted.
Usually some binder is used, such as
melted suet to hold the whole together
We do not know just why such small
and precise measurements are given.
Surely it would not make any difference
to the birds If Q ounces instead of 1k
ounces were used.
Probably these small amounts consti-
%,,f4 ,S
formulae for such things, in which the
terms run into hundreds of pounds.
For instance, the Department of Con-
servation Of the State of Michigan gives
the following proportions for mixture
to be used in planting a 5-acre patch
for growing wild to feed the birds:
Sudan grass, IA pounds buckwheat,
1875 pounds; cowpeas, 8.4 pounds; fax,
84 pounds; hemp, 8.4 pounds; corn,
II pounds; millet, 1876 pounds hog
millet. AZ pounds; kaf1ir corn, AZ
pounds; hedgari, ~ pounds; soy beans,
84 pounds; feterita, 80 pounds sun
flower seeds. 2.8 pounds.
Kaff1r corn and oats are two items
most birds eat only after Others are
consumed.
Foods they like include suet, sun
flower, cantaloupe seeds, watermelon
seeds, hemp, millet, cracked corn,
raisins, baby chick feed, scratch feed
and medium scratch feed.
Raisins are great favorites of most
of the birds that winter here. At this
writing they were not on the ration list.
All sorts of bread and similar left
overs are liked bye many birds in win
ter and supply them with exactly the
sort of heat elements they need in the
cold.
They, of course, will !. attract both
starlings and mocking birds, but If one
is fortunate enough to, draw a good
mocking bird" such as described by our
correspondent this viii not matter
much.