Our valuable song and insectivorous birds have been protected since 1858. Certain migratory birds, such as the loons, grebes, herons, and gulls, have been protected since 1900 by the International Bird Treaty with Canada. Today we protect one admittedly destructive bird—the Raven, because it is so rare and because of its fame in literary circles.
HELPING OUR BIRD FRIENDS
We may encourage birds to live about us, if we bear in mind their needs. In winter we may feed the Chickadees, Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, and other birds which live in our neighborhood. We may tack pieces of suet on a sheltered branch and scatter grain and grit on “feeding counters.” When snow is on the ground the birds have considerable difficulty in getting enough food, and our assistance will sometimes keep them from starvation. Feeding-shelters may be very simple, or they may be elaborate, but they should be placed and built so as to serve the needs of the birds best. A feeding-shelf built at a window furnishes a very attractive and useful device.
Before spring is upon us we should erect nesting-boxes for the Purple Martins, Bluebirds, and House Wrens we wish to attract. Those who are interested in securing specifications for these boxes should write to the Game Commission at Harrisburg for their bulletin, “A Year’s Program for Bird Protection.”
In spring we should think of the trees or shrubs which will attract birds. A fruit-laden mulberry tree always attracts birds in midsummer. Thick bushes placed in clumps will almost surely lure nesting Catbirds or Chipping Sparrows; a trumpet vine will mean Hummingbirds!
In midsummer the birds’ bath must be arranged. Such a bath may be very simple. But it must not be deep, and the edges should slope into the deeper water gradually. Remember that the water should be changed frequently unless a running stream is provided.
House cats and birds do not thrive together as a rule. If you wish to make conditions as nearly ideal as possible for your bird friends, you had better not keep a cat, for these animals are, by nature, crafty and bloodthirsty, and they will catch birds for “sport,” even though they are well fed.
If you carefully watch the birds, you will become aware of their needs. You may find it necessary to shoot Starlings occasionally if they persist in ousting Flickers from their nests. You may have to plant sunflowers to attract Goldfinches; you may find it desirable to allow part of your property to grow up into weeds and bushes so that it may furnish a home for some unusual bird neighbor. At my home at Bethany, West Virginia, we have permitted raspberry vines to grow on a hillside back of the house, and here Indigo Buntings nest, within a few rods of the open windows!
LIFE-ZONES IN PENNSYLVANIA
The term Life-Zone is used by scientists in referring to a region where environmental conditions so react upon each other as to form a suitable home for certain plant and animal forms. A Life-Zone naturally has no hard and fast boundaries as does a geographical zone; its boundaries are determined by temperature, rainfall, soil, altitude, drainage, and innumerable other factors, which so create a certain average whole as to attract certain species of plants, birds, mammals, and so forth, which in turn themselves become part of the environment, and are responsible for the presence of certain forms. These Life-Zones are, then, associations which naturally develop in sections where similar conditions exist. In Pennsylvania there are three or four of these associations. One, noticeable in the southern and southwestern counties, has been called the Carolinian Life-Zone. Here such birds as the Carolina Wren, Cardinal, Tufted Tit, and Red-bellied Woodpecker live. In much of Pennsylvania the Alleghenian Life-Zone occurs, where the Least Flycatcher, Wilson’s Thrush, Swamp Sparrow, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak are to be found in summer. Higher in the mountains is the Canadian Life-Zone; here the Junco, Hermit Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wilson’s Snipe, and Northern Water Thrush nest. As you read this book, you will notice that many birds are to be found in northern or mountainous counties; others in southern or less mountainous counties, and so forth. This is an indication of Life-Zone distribution.