A WELL-PLACED BIRD-BATH
They can be made much more picturesque if one trains over their side a delicate vine whose tendrils cling to the foundation and bring out the color effectively. Plant for the birds' enjoyment and combine with this feature decorative beds, using not the strong colors, but the delicate, dainty, pink, blue, white and lavender, of the many varieties that are suitable for this purpose.
Do not let the base of your expensive bird bath rest on the earth, rather place under it a pedestal of marble, granite, or cement. It need not be conspicuous, a growth of turf, the planting of an ivy or some other vine, will add much to its attractiveness, making an artistic foundation for it.
Whoever lays out his garden plot with a thought of thorough enjoyment, he who looks forward to sitting under the vine, will take special thought of the birds. He will endeavor even if he is an amateur not to make an ugly muddle in his planting, but aim for picturesque garden vistas, and have his flowers properly balanced so they will show harmonious massing of colors. One should be as careful not to give sun-loving plants a shady place, as to put the shy little flowers in the glaring sunlight.
It is a necessity if you are a bird lover, or if you wish to rid your plants of insects and your grounds of worms, to attract the birds. This can be accomplished by giving them not only proper planting but the right place where they may enjoy their daily bath. If you wish the best results, seek shade rather than sunshine. Our little friends prefer shelter to warmth, so cater to their taste in the placing of their drinking pool.
It is rather important that you seek a spot, just near enough to the grounds to be companionable, there to place a mulberry tree. There is no fruit that is more to their mind than this and it will be a source of delight to watch the shyest birds reward you by flaunting their colors before you as they flit in and out, feeding off the berries so temptingly displayed for their exclusive use.
It is a mistake to look upon the robin as common and a pest. This fact has been firmly fixed in our minds through his thieving qualities. When you consider that he has been known to devour as many as seventy worms a day, and multiply that by the voracity of his mate and his children, you will then commence to realize what a benefit he is to your garden. Try and cajole him into being a friend, and entice him to nest in the heart of your flower patch. Listen to his song; there is a mellow quality to his voice and he can put more expression into his music than any other bird. There is a flash of color and a burst of sweet melody, listen—there is a scarlet tanager, singing love songs to his mate. He is a veritable bird of Paradise and once sported fearlessly among our trees, but has now grown shy through being used as a target for the sportsman's gun. Cultivate him by all means. Toll him into your garden.
Darting in and out of the garden one finds the humming bird, so tiny that he measures only from three and a half to three and three-quarters inches, the smallest bird in our country. There is a glint of color as he dashes fearlessly from flower to flower, his brilliant metallic throat and breast sparkling in the sunlight like a precious gem. The trumpet flowers with their deep cup-shape blossoms are his special delight, although he never scorns the sweet-scented flowers that he finds on every side. For a moment he poises in the air motionless, sighting his flower, then winging his flight, he drains the nectar, uttering a shrill little squeak of delight, as he spies some especially fat aphides on the garden foliage. These he shoots off like a streak of lightning rapidly searching for more food.
How to attract the birds is a question that all bird lovers are seeking to answer. It is such a simple matter that you do not have to look far afield to obtain what you wish. There are many fruit-growing shrubs each one of which is suitable for his majesty's needs. These should be planted somewhere in the garden. If you prefer them surrounding the bird bath, you will have more chance for bird study, but they will come without that if you give them a chance and plenty of edible berries all the year round. The red berried elder is one of their favorites, as is the Canadensis or common elder, which flowers in June, and shows reddish purple berries during the autumn; then there is the Arbutifolia or red chokeberry. This is a native dwarf shrub, which is particularly tempting to the feathered tribe. When planning for this feature, one should remember that these bird-attracting shrubs should not be planted with only one idea in view. They should be made to form a part of the decorative plan, and the situation chosen should be among flowers that would bring out its artistic value, far more than if they were grouped in a mass. One is apt, in their enthusiasm in arranging their garden for the birds' benefit, to forget that attractive color schemes must be worked out, otherwise it will be a heterogeneous mass that will be an eye-sore rather than a pleasure.