16 



starting the openings to the rooms, and a compass-saw for 

 enlarging and squaring the same. For constructing more 

 elaborate bird-houses, other wood-working tools will be 

 needed and a work-bench with a strong vise is desirable. 



Two designs are selected from photographs of bird- 

 houses I have built, and the floor and roof plans are given 

 to aid those who wish to build elaborate houses. To go into 

 detail and describe these plans would take up much valuable 

 space, and be so tedious to follow that many persons would 

 become confused and discouraged at the beginning; there- 

 fore, I give a brief description here, and add figures, meas- 

 urements and explanations to the plans as a further help. 



The principal points are to get the rooms a suitable size, 

 and the openings rightly placed and of the proper dimen- 

 sions. 



Fig. 1 is a four-gabled structure of twenty rooms: the 

 height from bottom board to cornice is 16 inches, and the 

 width of each front is 14 inches; the little gable pieces, 

 in which the round openings are cut, are 8 inches; 

 The cupola is 6 inches high, exclusive of the two 

 octagon pieces, which are of f -inches in diameter; on 

 top of this is the little dome-shaped roof made by a tinsmith. 

 The size of all the rooms on the first and second floors is 6 

 inches square and 7 inches high— four rooms on each side 

 of a hollow space 12J inches square. Little roof ornaments 

 for the birds to perch on are whittled out of white pine 

 blocks, and the corner strips and window-frames and caps 

 are made of thin pine strips. The window-sills are £ to f 

 inch thick, which give the birds a foothold in going in and 

 out of their nesting-rooms. 



The same material used in No. 1 will answer in building 

 No. 2, with the addition of round wooden cylinders (I use 

 "E Twist" tobacco crates, which are very convenient and 

 cost but a trifle; they are about the size of a half-bushel 

 measure, and parts of three are required in making this 

 house) . The rooms in the third story of this round part are 

 only 5 inches high. Porch columns can be turned out of 



