HOMES NEAR TO NATURE 



97 



therefore gathered some wooden boxes 

 (the kind that jewelers use for express 

 packages to out-of-town-customers ) 

 nailed them more securely, cut a round 

 hole in one side exactly the size of a 

 quarter dollar, fastened to the bottom 

 under the hole a perch or a little plat- 

 form for them to alight on, screwed in 

 at the back two strong screw-eyes then 

 gave the boxes a coat of paint and 

 fastened them to trees either with long 

 nails through the screw-eyes or with 

 strong copper wire around a branch. 1 

 do not think I am exaggerating when 



martin led me to think it would do and 

 certainly the situation was all that 

 could be desired. However, no purple 

 martins appeared and the house was 

 soon crowded with English sparrows 

 1 let it remain in the garden for several 

 years when 1 had it taken down. The 

 experience led me to suppose that the 

 martins preferred a different locality ; 

 but this spring curiosity drove me to 

 order a splendid pole and a handsome 

 martin house of Air. Jacob who has a 

 factory for making bird-houses at 

 Waynesburg, Pa. This house has 



IN THE AQUATIC GARDEN. 

 Here the birds come to bathe and to drink. 



I say that every box thus made was 

 occupied by a pair of wrens the very 

 first year that these homes were of- 

 fered. The music of the orioles was 

 a valuable addition to the choir of birds 

 but the wrens proved to be even a 

 greater asset because they sing so con- 

 stantly and so late in the summer when 

 most birds have ceased altogether. I 

 must not leave untold my experience 

 with purple martins. In the early days 

 of my bird study, I erected a tall pole 

 in the center of the vegetable garden 

 and fastened securely to the top a 

 good-sized bird-house having five en- 

 trances or openings. To be sure, it was 

 home-made, and rather a botch at that ; 

 but all I had read about the purple 



seventeen rooms. I procrastinated so 

 long about erecting it that 1 gave up 

 all hope of having purple martins this 

 year, and it was well into May when it 

 finally stood on the spot I had selected 

 A few days later my gardener informed 

 me that a new kind of bird had appro- 

 priated the house and was ejecting the 

 English sparrows: that it had a very 

 pretty loud whistle and flew something 

 like a swallow! Well, to say that I was 

 delighted expresses my feelings in 

 language far too tame. In less than 

 three weeks every room held a pair 

 of nesting purple martins, and now I 

 shall have them every year and must 

 supply more houses for them. Such 

 rewards as these more than repay for 



