Evening star., 1947-03-31
This and That
By Charles E. Traceueu

There seem to be tricks in all trades.
Some one phoned in that certain strange
gray objects were in a bird-feedinp
station.
What were they? That was the
question. Asked to send in a few
samples, the caller said ok. Some days
later, another call was received.
Il found out what those objects were.
They are small stones! My bag of Wild
bird seed is full of them. That was
where they came FROM
Adulteration of foods, human, beast
anc bird, is no new thing, of course,
but certainly one of the worlds mean
est must have been mixed up in this.
Addition of small stones of uniform
Size would increase the weight of a
pound of bird food, certainly, but would
hardly do the birds any particular good,
unless the stones were small enough to
serve as bird gravel.
Addition of small amount of sand
might be legitimate, but weighing down
a pound of bird food" with any ap-
preclable amount of small stones would
come in another category.
1t is always good plan for those
who feed birds to inspect their pur-
SAidoSo VI lccu
Sunf1oWer and others have suffered
the fate of many commodities, so that
purveyors have had to look around for
substitutes
All packers of bird seed have their
own formulas. In some parts of the
country, the addition of Canadian peas
is good, but not for mixtures to be
used hereabouts
rToo much 0o1oioJ- o,d @b~ I'LL.
Is not good, either.
Inspection of feeding trays, at the
end of the day, may reveal too much of
things the birds won't eat.
Baby chick feed,' well spiked with
the local songsters.
We would not advise any except the
born mixers to try to mix their own
1t may be done, and there are some
nice formulas available, but by the
time the various components are pur-
chased, and put together, the price gen.
orally is "out of line" as the saying
was for time.
The best thing to do, If the birds
refuse to eat mixture, or too much of
one ingredient is left uneaten, is to put
up yowl-polite, of course-to the
seller
Tell him your birds won't eat it, and
ask him to try something else.
In recent years, many hardware deal
ers have taken over bird food as side
line for the winter months.
Hardware Dealers in most instances
are very human men, and If you talk
to them, they will be glad to help you,
if they can.
If nothing can be done, despite your
pleas, try some other dealer There are
many more people selling food for the
birds now than there were 10 years ago
Excellent brands may be purchased
by mail, of course, but often the prices
are very high compared with local
prices
Grain and seeds are heavy, and trans
portation costs must be figured in
BY turning the far end of yard into
a sundower plantation, the homeowner
interested in feeding the wildbirds is
able to lay up real supply of this best
of foods.
Careful and persistent collection of
watermelon and canteloupe seeds, in
season, will furnish some fine food for
the birds. Squirrels, by the way, are
even fonder of these than of sunfower
seed, If that is possible.
Many clean leftovers may be offered
the birds. Peanut butter, in very small
quantities, is good, but can be overdone,
since. this is concentrated food, un-
known to small creatures in nature.
BY careful inspection beforehand.
when one puts out food, 1t is possible to
feel pretty sure that one is not offering
them stones when they ask for bread.