Evening star., 1946-11-14
This and That,
Sy Charles r. TtutsscelI q

II you want to be sure Of birds in your
garden this winter. remember to use
sunfower seed.
Birds simply like 1t better than any
thing else you can offer them.
The temptation, In view Of high prices,
y to hand them out chicken feed.
Recently, In . spirit Of economy. W
tried holding out on our songsters.
The hrst thing you know, we had lost
every one Of them.
%A&A
The point Is that when we started to
feed them sunflower again, they all
came back.
It will be better this winter to put out
! small amount of sunfiower seed, mixed
with others the birds like, than to scatter
linwanted food in large quantities.
This is the old argument between
quality and quantity. Of course, brought
down to small dimensions.
There Is fine meat in s1nfiower seed.
It is no wonder the wintering birds
like such food.
In some areas Of the world, notably
tough-and-rough Russia, sunfiower seed
makes . favorite human food and
delicacy.
Big Russians cit around munchine
sundower seed Just as we In this country
consume candy bars.
And they probably have by far the
best Of It, since the meat Of the seed or
kernel Is filled with good protein. carbo-
hydrate and oil.
This is good combination for man
or beast. w
There is protein for building and re-
pair. carbohydrate for heat and energy.
and oil for the same plus surfeit. Enough
sunnower seed meats would give good
nourishment. and feeling Of enough,
I often lacking in modern diets.
~ 4 ~ 3
It Is an interesting experiment to
break open sunflower seed and taste
1t, at first with the tip Of the tongue,
since most Of us are not used to eating
such thing.
Chewed, 1t develops q nice, sweet taste.
1t Is dimcult for an American, perhaps,
to work up much enthusiasm for such
fare, but 1t Is easy to understand why q
bird In the cold would like it..
On account Of the high price, mixed
with an inability to be had et times,
sunfiower seed cannot be used too much
or too often, even when one Is very fond
Of feeding the birds In the cold.
+
We must be satisfied with putting out
some Of this food ut stated times during
the day, and permitting the wintering
songsters to rustic up their own food for
. the rest Of the time.
Perhaps the two best feeding times II
tsxnt oplx {vN
morning, and late In the afternoon.
These times must be adjusted to the
month, but roughly speaking are about
O'Clock In the morning and 3 O'Clock
in the afternoon.
Il some sun1ower seed is offered ct
these times. the birds always look for 1t.
II Is, Of course, essential not to disap-
point them. II possible. Habit Is large
among the natural creatures. Once you
give them this habit, it Is up to you to
keep them going at it until spring.
4 kE
In putting out food, do not forget i
certain food factor they need.
This Is grit, and is best supplied them
as simple dust.
Dig up spot under porch, or IN an
out-of- of-the-way place beneath shrub.
Pulverize 1t, and smooth it out. Many
birds love . dust bath better than q
water bath. and ct the same time they
eat bit for better digestion. Several
days after rain. mulch and smooth
the sAlected spot. 4.
Birds In the winter garden also need
water. Many persons forget how dry
cold can be. See to 1t that there are
several shallow baths, and that they are
kept fun. They viii freeze up, but be
sure to break the Ice III the afternoon.
and hll with fresh Water.