1 66 American Birds 



home better than a city flat. I have a friend in the coun- 

 try who has bird-boxes up in various places about his farm. 

 Most of them find occupants every year. An old square 

 box that is set in the crotch of an apple tree is ahead in 

 the record. This box was put up in the spring of 1897, 

 and was taken by a pair of bluebirds. It is only four feet 

 from the ground and has a removable top, so that the 

 owner may readily make friends of the tenants. When I 

 opened the box and looked in, the mother sat quietly on 

 her eggs, and was tame enough to allow us to stroke her 

 feathers. 



This box is now covered with moss and lichens, but it 

 is famous in bluebird history. It has been occupied every 

 year since it was put up, and not a single year has there 

 been less than two broods reared, and several times three. 

 The record year was in 1904, when the bluebirds had 

 two families of seven and one of five birds, and succeeded 

 in raising them all. Seven is a large family for bluebirds, 

 and it is more remarkable that there should have been 

 seven in the second brood and then a third brood. In the 

 eight years there have been over one hundred and ten 

 young bluebirds hatched in this box in the apple tree. One 

 would think the bird world would soon be overcrowded 

 with bluebirds, but it isn't. There seem to be no more 

 bluebirds about the farm than eight years ago, although 

 there are generally two or three broods raised in other 

 boxes near by. It all goes to show how the bird popu- 

 lation decreases in numbers. The new birds of each 

 year take the place of the numbers that die during the 

 winter. Birds have many enemies that we know not of. 

 Many die of disease, many starve or die of cold, and 



