SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by MABEL OSGOOD W^RIGHT 



Address all communications to the Editor of the School Department, National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, 141 Broadway, New York City 



FEBRUARY -PREPARATION MONTH 



THOSE who have made a practice of feeding birds will, of course, need no 

 urging; but it is not too late to say a word to those who have not. Many 

 birds that have gleaned a fair living during the first two months of winter 

 are starved out in February and March, when sleet-storms have laid low the 

 stalks of weed-seeds, and no frozen berries and apples remain. 



Along with this comes the making and placing of bird-houses; as those in- 

 tended for either Bluebirds, Chickadees or Nuthatches should be ready and 

 "weathering" early in March, and the earlier the better. It is also the last chance 

 to clean the twigs from old houses. If they have been made with removable 

 tops or sides, the task is easy; if not, patience and a shoe-buttoner will generally 

 conquer the mass of sticks, feathers and straws. 



This cleaning process I should confine strictly to manufactured homes; 

 the holes of Flickers and Bluebirds in old trees and posts, were better left alone, 

 as I have seen time-honored haunts ruined by careless working at the entrance 

 that broke down the hole. Bird-houses can be made of pretty much anything, 

 the only qualifications being the proportion to the bird and the size and position 

 of entrance. 



The man who made two holes in his barn-door — a little one for the kitten 

 and a big one for the cat — has always been held up to ridicule; but, if he had 

 been constructing a bird-house, his method would have been quite right. A 

 small bird, like Jenny Wren, prefers a small entrance (the size of a quarter) to 

 her house, and will frequently refuse a box with a two-inch opening. Through 

 the smaller opening nothing larger than a field-mouse can enter, and the mis- 

 chievous red squirrel, English Sparrow and Starling will be kept out. 



In this connection, let me advise the use of a bit of tin on the inside front of 

 small bird-houses, with an aperture of the same size as the entrance; this will 

 discourage the red squirrel in his efforts to enlarge the doorway. 



Use anything you can lay hands upon for your houses, but if yo.u are fortunate 

 enough to have a supply of old shingles or weathered boards, so much the better; 

 and do not forget one point: It is the bird who is to live in the house, not yourself, 

 and, to some birds, fancy scrolls; saw trimmings, steeples and brightly contrasting 

 paints will act as alarm signals rather than enticements. Moreover, except in 

 the case of the formal Martin Hotel, set on a pole in the open, these toy doU- 



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