Notes on Attracting Birds 



177 



of them a Screech Owl was found nesting. Probably there would ha\'e been 

 more of these birds alwut if seven or eight Screech and Long-eared Owls had 

 not been trapped, in my absence, by mistaken zeal, last fall, 1909. Also the 

 mice would not ha\e been quite so much in evidence. This, however, will 

 not hapj)en again. 



The English Sparrows were shot during the early part of the winter; but, 

 after one hundred and thirty of them had been killed, they became so shy that 

 they were negotiated with poison. A mixture of wheat and hemp-seed was 

 treated with strychnine and starch, according to directions given in United 

 States Farmers' Bulletin No. 383. The Sparrows were previously baited to 

 two feed-troughs on a barn and shed roof. After they had been thoroughly 



FORC-EPS FOR CLEANING NESTING-HOUSES 



accustomed to feed from these, the poison was placed in them. It is impossible 

 to say how many w^re killed by this method, as they were found dead at some 

 distance, and numbers were picked up by a neighbor's cat. The result, how- 

 ever, was highly satisfactory, as very few were left by the time the Bluebirds 

 arrived. 



For the present breeding-season, I have nothing of especial interest to 

 report except the following: The size 'C box (af-inch opening), which had 

 not been put out before, became immediately attractive to the Flickers. This 

 size was placed in more or less isolated trees at heights of from twenty to thirty 

 feet. A goodly number were occupied, one brood of Flickers being raised in an 

 oak tree only a few yards from the terrace wall. 



As to the other boxes, I was disappointed in not finding a single nesting 

 ("hickadee or Downy Woodpecker. The only species found besides the Owls 



