30 METHODS OF ATTRACTING BIRDS 



Dr. W. H. Bergtold of Denver writes that the 

 house finch is very abundant in Colorado cities 

 and villages, and takes advantage of any box, 

 shelf, etc., about a house, to build its nest. 



Flicker. — The author has been able to secure 

 but two definite records of the flicker using a nest- 

 ing-box. One is furnished by William Brewster, 

 who writes : " In the spring of 1899 a pair of 

 flickers lived in an imitation stub that I put up 

 for them in the garden here. It was simply a 

 long, narrow rectangular box, made of boards 

 covered outw^ardly with spruce bark and having 

 an entrance hole of suitable size (three and a 

 half inches diameter) bored in one side near the 

 upper end. Eight eggs were laid, but none ot 

 them hatched, although the birds brooded them 

 for nearly six weeks. Last spring (1908) I put 

 up a box of similar construction in an orchard at 

 Concord, Mass. Although the flickers did not 

 build in it, they must have frequented it more or 

 less as a sleeping-place, for when I examined it 

 this autumn, I found their feathers clinging to 

 the wood about the entrance hole." 



Under date of May 24, 1910, Mr. F. C. Pellett 

 writes that a pair of flickers is occupying one of 

 his houses, in which seven eggs have been laid. 



Instances have been reported in which flickers 



