BIRDS IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE Lay 
tain of the native sparrows, piles of brushwood or logs 
should be left in sheltered places where they need not prove 
an eyesore, and they could be covered with vines. Piled 
logs not only serve as nesting-places but as shelters in the 
inclement weather that often occurs in the spring after the 
return of the earlier spring migrants. 
Nesting-boxes or Bird-houses.—One of the most important 
methods of providing nesting-places is by the distribution 
of nesting-boxes or bird-houses. In certain European coun- 
tries the provision of nesting-boxes for birds constitutes a 
recognized adjunct of forest protection, and such artificial 
nesting-sites are distributed by the thousand in forests 
owned by the state and private individuals. The cutting 
out of hollow and rotten trees which follows proper forestry 
management renders such a procedure necessary as a means 
of replacing the natural nesting-places so destroyed. 
The greatest exponent of the practice of bird-protection 
was, undoubtedly, the late Baron von Berlepsch, and to 
him we are indebted for the splendid example he has given 
at Seebach, in Germany. His ideas have been adopted by 
various states in Germany and in countries where the pro- 
tection of birds and the provision of nesting-boxes constitute 
an important and necessary adjunct of forestry methods. 
An instance, given by Baron von Berlepsch, of the practical 
value of bird-encouragement, may be quoted. The Hainich 
wood, south of Eisenach, which covers several square miles, 
was stripped entirely bare in the spring of 1905 by the cater- 
pillars of the oak leaf-roller (Tortrix viridiana). The wood 
of Baron von Berlepsch, in which there had long been nest- 
ing-boxes, of which there are now more than 2,000, was un- 
touched. It actually stood out among the remaining woods 
like a green oasis. At a distance of a little more than a 
quarter of a mile farther, the first traces of the plague were 
apparent, and at the same distance farther on still it was in 
full force. It was plain proof of the distance the tits and 
