NESTING-HOUSES 49 



low excavations. In looking over a German pub- 

 lication on methods of attracting birds, the author 

 finds that woodpeckers are very common occu- 

 pants of artificial nesting-houses in Germany, and 

 a description of the houses used there may give 

 the clue which will lead to success in this country. 



Experiments in Germany, — Baron von Ber- 

 lepsch in Germany has made a life-study of wood- 

 peckers' nests, collecting hundreds of them, and 

 he finds that they all agree in certain features, 

 namely : the opening is always circular and of 

 unvarying size for each species; the entrance 

 holes all incline upwards at a certain angle, to 

 prevent the rain from coming in ; the lower por- 

 tion of the nesting-cavity is enlarged in a gourd 

 shape, and ends in a pointed trough at the bot- 

 tom; the inner walls are roughened somewhat to 

 allow the birds to cling to them more easily; and 

 in the extreme point of the nest are a few fine 

 shavings. 



Baron von Berlepsch has constructed a nesting- 

 house embodying all these features. The results 

 following the use of this house are very remark- 

 able. Of five thousand boxes hung up by Baron 

 von Berlepsch in his own woods, and of about 

 ten thousand hung up in other localities by state 

 authorities, ninety per cent or over were occupied. 



