Wild Plants for Cage Birds - Weed and Seeds of the Field and Wayside Described - With Footnotes, etc., by G. E. Weston

By R. Morse

“Wild Plants for Cage Birds” is a vintage guide to the various species of weeds and windflowers of Britain. Many of these plants contain seeds that can be used as bird food, and this book offers descriptions of these plants together with instructions on how and when to extract the seeds. This volume is not to be missed by bird owners and breeders with an interest in gathering their own birdseed, and it will also be of utility to garners with an interest in plant and weed identification. Contents include: “Common Chickweed”, “Common Dandelion”, “Sow (or Milk) Thistle”, “The Sow Thistle”, “The Spear Plume Thistle”, “The Marsh Plume Thistle”, “Plantain”, “Greater Plantain”, “Ribwort Plantain”, “Eldar”, “Dewberries”, “Charlock”, “Shepherd's Purse”, “Curled Dock”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Country Books
• Release date: Jun 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528767293

Book preview

WILD PLANTS FOR CAGE BIRDS

WEEDS AND SEEDS OF THE FIELD AND WAYSIDE DESCRIBED

By

R. MORSE

With footnotes, etc., by G. E. Weston

Copyright © 2018 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

Wild Plants for Cage Birds

WILD PLANTS FOR CAGE BIRDS

WEEDS AND SEEDS OF THE FIELD AND WAYSIDE DESCRIBED

By R. MORSE

With Footnotes, etc., by G. E. WESTON.

IT is a generally known fact amongst bird-lovers that many wild flowers of our country have seeds which form a large part of the food of our native birds. But although the seeds are easy to obtain when the birds have their liberty, this, of course, is not the case when they are kept in cages. The object of the following series of articles is, therefore, to describe the plants which have seeds (and in some cases leaves, etc., also) which are suitable for the diet of our feathered pets. It is hoped that after reading this series many bird-keepers will be enabled to take a ramble through fields and lanes and obtain some dainty morsels for their caged friends at home; it is certain these dainty morsels will be appreciated as a pleasant change from a monotonous diet of Canary or similar dry seed. Further, many of our wild plants possess very valuable medicinal properties, and are, as is well known, largely used in compounding many of our most beneficial medicines.

Without wasting more of the reader’s time with introductory remarks, I will proceed to give descriptions of a few of our commonest suitable wild plants. When these descriptions have been carefully studied, it is the confident hope of the writer that little difficulty will be experienced by the bird-keeper in recognising the common and useful plants of our hedgerows and waysides.

Two Sprays of Chickweed.

Printed direct from nature, and showing flower heads, shape of leaves, and seeds falling from bursting pods.

Common Chickweed (Stellária media).

Chickweed is an exceedingly common weed, and may be found in bloom almost the whole year round. It grows generally in waste places, in fields, and in gardens. There are several other common plants known to country-folk as Chickweed, but the following description will enable the species named above to be identified.

(1) Single floret from head of Dandelion, bowing fruit (or seed) at base.

(2) Developed seed.

(3) Single floret from head of Thistle, showing fruit (or seed) at base.

(4) Developed seed.

The common Chickweed has egg-shaped leaves, which are destitute of hairs. The stems, however, which are weak and brittle, have alternate lines of hairs between each pair of leaves. This is one of the most useful points to note when trying to identify this species. The flowers are very small, white in colour, and are made up of five petals (flower leaves) which are so deeply cut up as to lend the appearance of there being ten.

As this plant is generally in bloom in nearly every month of the year, it follows naturally that