18 BIRDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA 
Martins love a home in the open and elevated on a pole 
from ten to twenty feet. Their house may be at least two stories 
high and have many rooms, for they love to nest in colonies, 
and they return to the same place year after year. 
A brushpile left in the corner of the yard will usually 
secure the nest of a Brown Thrasher or Catbird, and this means 
the best of bird music during the nesting season. A dead limb 
left on a tree, possibly with the top cut off, is likely to gain the 
nest of the Downy Woodpecker, Flicker, or Redhead. 
It is well, as far as possible, to provide two nests for 
birds, as most of them rear a second brood. After their first 
young were grown Bluebirds have been known to go straight 
across the garden and take possession of a second house. 
