240 BIRD FRIENDS 



farm is to fasten the boxes to the top of posts by 

 means of iron bands about two feet long. Several 

 of the dealers mentioned at the close of this chap- 

 ter advertise cat guards that may be put around 

 posts or trees. 



Protection from the English sparrow. Various de- 

 vices have been tried in the construction of the house 

 and the method of putting it out, to protect birds 

 from the sparrow. Of these devices the author knows 

 of only one which is always successful; that is to 

 make the hole so small (one and one eighth inches 

 or less) that the sparrow cannot enter, but large 

 enough for small birds such as the wren and chick- 

 adee. Other devices which have been suggested, 

 such as leaving off the perch from the house and sus- 

 pending the house so that it can move, are not uni- 

 versally successful. In the author's experience they 

 have proved of little value. He has found that the 

 sparrows do not use the moving houses as often as 

 the stationary houses, but they do use them in about 

 the same proportion as the other birds, so that little 

 is gained in suspending the houses. 



If the sparrows begin to use a box, the eggs can 

 be removed every week or two and thus the birds 

 may be prevented from raising young, at least, and 

 sometimes the sparrows will leave and thus give an 

 opportunity for other birds to use the box. On May 

 26, 1915, Mr. E. H. Forbush found in twenty-five 

 of his nesting-boxes, ten tree swallows' nests, ten 



