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Entrances to the rooms in all my houses are of two 

 uniform sizes; two and one-fourth inches square for windows 

 and two and one-half inches in diameter where a round 

 entrance is made. In imitating a miniature residence the 

 square represent the lower half of windows, and round open- 

 ings are entrances to gable attic rooms. A wide perch for 

 entrance is the most convenient for the birds, but it 

 mars the beauty of a fancy house, and a small piece repre- 

 senting a window sill is substituted, made of three-fourth 

 inch thickness, poplar, which is sufficient for the birds to 

 cling to. 



Two or three story houses are very attractive, and the 

 whole should be well painted and joints in the roof covered 

 with tin to keep out the water. Clean poplar lumber three- 

 fourths or seven-eighths inch thick is most durable for ex- 

 posed parts, while the bottom should be of oak, and in large 

 heavy boxes, doubled. A straight wooden pole is least ex- 

 pensive, but an iron pipe is best in the long run, and a two- 

 inch one is sufficiently strong to hold an average sized box. 

 Erect the box twelve to fifteen feet high.* Expensive boxes 

 should be provided with a large, heavy iron hinge near the 

 base of the pole, for lowering and placing it in the dry dur- 

 ing the seven months the Martins are on their southern so- 

 journ. To provide for this arrangement, box two feet of 

 the lower end of the pipe to a diameter of ten or twelve 

 inches, and hinge to the end of a square piece of oak three 

 and one-half feet long to be placed in the ground for a base. 



Where the birds are established they return late in 

 March or early April, but a new house may remain unoccu- 

 pied until early May. It is best, however, to erect the box 

 on or before April first. 



♦Twelve feet high will not insure the birds in a very public place, or 

 where children play on the lawn surrounding the bird-house. I now place 

 all my houses, and those I build for other Martin-lovers, fifteen or more 

 feet above the ground. 

 December, 1908. 



