Rural School Leaflet 955 



BIRD BOXES 



A. A. Allen 



There are many ways of attracting birds to the 

 home or to the schoolhouse, some of which have 

 already been presented to you. We may hang 

 suet in the trees and scatter seeds to attract the 

 winter birds: we may provide food for our summer 

 visitors in case of want and establish drinking 

 fountains and washbasins. But one of the most 

 successful and interesting means at our disposal for 

 attracting the birds is that of building nesting boxes. 

 Perhaps we have been feeding the winter birds with such success that 

 the chickadees and nuthatches and woodpeckers have ever been with 

 us and we wish to keep some of them all through the spring and sum- 

 mer ; or perhaps we wish to attract other summer birds as they come back 

 to us in the spring. The cheery bluebirds, the industrious wrens, and the 

 graceful tree swallows may each be invited to remain about our dwellings 

 by the proper placing of nesting boxes, and if they chance to select our 

 proffered box for their chosen home we may feel well repaid: not only 

 by the beauty and interest that they will bring into our lives, but because 

 in feeding their hungry young they will protect our trees and gardens 

 against the ravages cf insects. Having decided to put up one or more 

 nesting boxes, the question naturally arises, what kind of a box to get 

 and where to place it. The object of this article is to put such information 

 at your disposal in the simplest form. 



In the first. place, many birds that can be attracted in no other way 

 will be attracted by the planting of trees and bushes. We must not 

 expect them to come to our boxes. Other birds will nest about our build- 

 ings, if they are given any encouragement in the way of a protected shelf 

 on which to place their nests. These are the robins, phcebes, barn swal- 

 lows, and eave swallows. The modern barn, with its vermin-proof walls 

 and smooth rafters, provides neither entrance for the swallows nor places 

 for them to attach their nests. The painted boards beneath the eaves 

 are too slippery for the gourd-shaped nests of the eave swallows. The 

 man who builds such a barn little realizes that he is driving away one of 

 the chief protectors of his crops. He should make haste to cut an opening 

 beneath the gable and to nail cleats to the rafters and beneath the eaves, 

 that he may once more avail himself of the services of the swallows. Simi- 

 larly, cleats or shelves placed about the porch, above the pillars, or in 

 other sheltered corners will provide nesting places for the robins and 

 phcebes and will encourage them to remain with us. These shelves 



