year, raising two broods, but never did I see them approach 

 the Martin houses or fight their owners. 



To entice the Bluebird to remain on the premises with- 

 out molesting the Martins, make a nesting box about five 

 inches square (inside) and eighteen inches high; cut a round 

 hole two and three-fourths inches in diameter in the front 

 near the top; put on a sloping roof and add a perch on top, 

 place it seven to ten feet above the ground on top of a stout 

 pole or on a vine arbor just out of reach of the vines. A 

 Bluebird box should be put up not later than March. 



To have a neat serviceable Martin house it is necessary 

 to spend but a few dollars, which is returned many times 

 over in the beauty and cheer thrown around your home by 

 the presence and jubilant song of these charming birds. 



*Two or three dollars will pay for the materials for a 

 plain box of ten or twelve rooms, and few tools are nec- 

 essary for its construction. Larger and more elaborate 

 houses, of course, run into money. One of mine, a sixty-six 

 room structure put up last year is worth $40.00 , while the 

 one in two of the accompanying cuts numbered 3, is worth 

 $25.00, the materials and pipe upon which it is erected cost- 

 ing $15.00. There are forty-five rooms in this house. 

 House numbered 2, in the engravings, would cost when com- 

 pleted, with pole, $18.00, and thirty-four nesting rooms 

 would be presented to the Martins. A box similar to the 

 four gabled structure, represented as No. 1, in two of the 

 cuts, costs when complete about $12.00, the pipe costing a 

 little less than half this amount. 



In constructing a Martin house, care should be taken to 

 have all partitions tight, so that all light is excluded ex- 

 cept what streams through the entrances to the rooms. The 

 size of the rooms should not be less than five inches square 

 and six inches high, and should not be much larger than six 

 inches square and seven inches high. 



* It must be understood that the prices and methods of construction 

 contained in this and other articles reprinted in this booklet are to aid one 

 in building his own bird house, on the cheapest possible plan, and are not 

 followed by the Bird House Company under the control of the author of 

 this booklet. 



