AIDS TO NESTING 225 



peckers would be the leading probability there, but the 

 downy and hairy woodpeckers rarely use artificial nests, 

 while the flicker and redhead are just as likely to nest in the 

 open, especially in large isolated trees or in orchards. Saw- 

 whet and screech owls are more likely to nest in woods, but 

 the former is rare and the other not plenty. Wrens often 

 take boxes fastened to the house, as do chickadees occa- 

 sionally. Probably, though, the most likely location for 

 the chickadee is the edge of a grove or in the orchard. The 

 bluebird is especially partial to the orchard or an isolated 

 group of trees in a pasture. The crested flycatcher likes 

 an old orchard or a retired place at the edge of the woods. 

 The robin and phoebe will nest almost anywhere under 

 eaves of buildings or in the garden where a platform shel- 

 tered from above can be provided. For most birds a loca- 

 tion is most attractive that is not too bare and open, but 

 near shrubbery and foliage, where food can be found, though 

 not directly amid these. Houses for martins, however, 

 must be out in the open, away from foliage, so that the 

 birds can readily fly in from all directions. Tree swallows 

 also prefer boxes on poles in the open, but these may be 

 somewhat more in among trees. 



Height from Ground. Most species which use boxes 

 prefer a location of moderate height. Eight to twelve feet 

 represents a good average, not over fifteen. In one case, 

 in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, where over one 

 hundred boxes of the Von Berlepsch type were put up by 

 forestry men thirty-five to forty feet from the ground, the 

 great majority were taken by gray, red, and flying squirrels 

 and English sparrows, and only one by a native species, a 

 pair of flickers. More than one element, of course, probably 

 entered into this result. At any rate, it is best to follow the 

 natural habits of the various species. Woodpeckers are 



