APPENDIX 225 



when the good wife and children heard the swallows twit- 

 tering under the eaves. 



The boys delighted in making bird-boxes or houses in 

 winter. These were placed on poles, and sometimes the 

 hop-vines were set so as to twine around them. Such houses 

 in places adorned the grape arbors and cribs. They were 

 sometimes made in the form of a church and spire. They 

 are not as often seen now. They should reappear. 



There came a period of rustic ornaments for the home, 

 rustic-work fences, verandas, and hanging baskets. This 

 work suggested the natural bird-house — a hollow log, like a 

 keg, set on gables, poles, and in the crotches of trees. 



The bluebirds and wrens delight in these bird-houses. 

 The swallows find natural retreat in them, when they are 

 placed on poles, or high in trees. 



They may be ornamented with rustic kinds of pine or 

 cedar, or a honeysuckle may be trained to grow so as to 

 cover them. Perches or pegs may be set at the entrance 

 to the hollow cavity. The hollow trunks of apple-trees 

 may be made roomy chambers for nests. 



The migratory birds may thus be brought into intimate 

 relations with the family. They may be rendered so tame 

 by feeding and protection as to return to the same place 

 for many years. The pigeon-house may be fastened in this 

 way, and so as to form a very sightly ornament to the crib 

 or stable. 



The limbs of trees that contain the homes of the car- 

 penter birds, as the woodpeckers, should be protected. 

 After the woodpeckers have left them to make cavities in 

 other trees, the bluebirds and wrens will take possession of 

 the old cavities. 

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