May, 1920] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



83 



dishes, so with the birds, they are far more hkeiy 

 to be attracted by a clump of our red native cedars 

 than by trees which they have never seen before. Of 

 course this does not mean to say that we should not 

 plant trees such as the Mulberry, whose fruit is 

 specially attractive, but as a rule our native berry 

 bushes, vines and trees are the best to plant. 



Perhaps the most interesting of our bird guest; 

 during the nesting season are those which occupy our 

 bird houses. These are so well known that I need 

 not enumerate them. It might be well to dwell for 

 a little on the most suitable styles and locations of 

 some of the preference for what he, or perhaps I 

 had better say she, considers a properly made house. 

 How do we know whether a bird likes a certain 

 style of house or not? This is only found out by 

 observation and experiment. Perhaps Baron Von 

 Berlepsch has achieved more along this line than 

 any other student, having devoted a tremendous 

 amount of lime and practically the whole of his 

 large estate to these studies, and bird houses con- 

 structed after his ideas have proved most successful. 

 I mention this only to show that through experi- 

 menting it is quite possible to find out what kind of 

 houses are preferred by the different birds. 



A standard Flicker house would be made from 

 a log say, twenty-four inches long and about eight 

 or nine inches in diameter. The entrance hole, 

 two and a half inches in diameter, should be 

 placed quite near the top. To hollow out the log 

 it is best to cut it in half lengthwise and then 

 with a gouge or chisel shape out the cavity into a 

 pear shaped hollow extending sixteen inches below 

 the entrance hole making half the cavity in each 

 piece of the log and the big end towards the bot- 

 tom. Place the pieces together again and fasten 

 tightly with a piece of soft wire at either ends of 

 the log; then cut the top of the leg sloping, with the 

 back about one inch higher than the front; then 

 nail a piece of board to this having it extend fully 

 three inches beyond the log on both sides and 

 front thus forming a shelter to the entrance hole 

 which is quite important. 



Those who are interested in finding out about 

 any special house will find complete directions for 

 all houses in N. M. Ladd's "How to Make Friends 

 with the Birds." 



It is a good idea to place a mixture of sand and 

 sawdust in all Woodpeckers' houses as they do not 

 carry in nesting material. Fill the house about one 

 third full, they will soon remove any surplus. 



Don't make the mistake of making two compart- 

 ments in the one house, as houses of this sort will 

 seldom be occupied, and if occupied only one com- 

 partment will be used. Purple Martin houses are 

 an exception to this rule. With these houses the 

 more rooms or apartments, each with a separate en- 



trance, the better your house. 



The placing of bird houses is very important. 

 Care should be taken in selecting suitable locations 

 which should be in open places as far as possible. 

 When hanging the house see that the entrance faces 

 the sheltered aspect, and that it is shaded from wet 

 and storm as much as possible. 



All houses should be cleaned and repaired as 

 early as possible each season. 



Don't make the mistake of placing a Flicker and 

 Wren house on the same tree as if these should 

 both be lucky in attracting occupants the Wren 

 will take the first opportunity of visiting the Flick- 

 er s nest in the absence of the owner and punctur- 

 ing the eggs. This happened in my garden last 

 season, not only in the Flicker's nest but also with 

 a Robin's nest which was built in the same tree. 



Hang out wadding, wool, bits of string, and any 

 other nesting material. Do this early as it is often 

 the means of attracting a pair of birds to nest in your 

 garden. 



A bird bath is a splendid attraction. This should 

 be placed in the open thus affording the birds a 

 clear view of any approaching enemies, such as the 

 skulking cat. A bath with a graded bottom is 

 preferable. This should start at half inch and 

 slope gently to not deeper than two inches. A fine 

 misty spray is a splendid addition, also have perch- 

 ing accommodation nearby. A dust bath located 

 in a sunny situation is much enjoyed by birds. This 

 can be easily made by filling a flat tray or box say 

 two or three inches deep with any sort of fine dust, 

 preferably fine sand, with a small portion of slacked 

 lime thoroughly mixed. A bath which will be much 

 frequented especially by Robins and Sparrows can 

 easily be made by securing a large plant saucer and 

 placing it in a sunny location on a box or stool lo 

 raise it one or two feet from the ground, the only 

 difficulty with this is that you will probably find that 

 you will have to fill it several times during the 

 day, as an enthusiastic Robin will splash consider- 

 able of the water over the edge and when this is 

 repeated several times the bath soon becomes empty. 



Besides serving as baths these basins of water are 

 a great blessing in hot weather, as drinking pools, 

 and if kept regularly filled will be visited by hun- 

 dreds of birds during one day. 



There is one golden rule to be observed if we 

 are to make the birds feel perfectly at home in our 

 gardens, that is that no cat or dog be allowed to 

 roam about the premises. The proprietor must see 

 that this is obeyed. Our movements have consid- 

 erable effect on wild life. If we are gentle and even 

 in our ways of going about the garden, and are not 

 always appearing to be prying after the birds we 

 will find that they will soon learn to treat us as 

 friends. There is no better illustration of this than 



