400 USEFUL BIRDS. 



hairless caterpillars, with chopped lean meat and a few earth- 

 worms cut up, will make a good substitute for the natural 

 food. Those who wish to experiment in this way should 

 read the chapter on taming and feeding birds in Nature Study 

 and Life, by Prof. C. F. Hodge. They may thereby avoid 

 mistakes, save much trouble, and prevent a useless sacrifice 

 of bird life. 



Our experience in attracting Bluebirds, Wrens, and 

 Chickadees about the house by means of food and nesting 

 boxes proves conclusively that we may easil}^ domesticate 

 these birds. Our experiments with the Chickadee will serve 

 to illustrate how a species may be induced to leave its nest- 

 ing places in the woods to nest and live about dwellings 

 and under man's protection. We first cut down all the de- 

 caying trees near the house, leaving the birds neither dead 

 wood in which to make holes, nor natural hollows in which 

 to find shelter, — but not before we had put up artificial nest- 

 ing boxes on the house and on the near-by trees. This was 

 done in the fall, that the birds might become accustomed to 

 the change before another nesting season, and that they might 

 find shelter in the boxes during the cold winter nights. It 

 seems remarkable that Chickadees which naturally breed in 

 decayed stumps or holloAv trees should come to seek the 

 shelter of old tin cans in winter ; but eventually they did so, 

 goiiig early to these shelters, and nestling together there in 

 company for mutual protection from the cold. 



In the mean time, food was put out near the house win- 

 dows, where nesting boxes had been put up. In the spring 

 a single pair of Chickadees nested and reared seven young 

 in a wooden box fastened to a window sill. The next year 

 two pairs reared young in boxes m ithin two rods of each 

 other ; one was on the house, the other in an apple tree near 

 by. The present year (1906) three pairs have reared j^oung, 

 and two of them have successfully brought off two broods 

 each. In 1905 a pair accepted a wad of cotton placed in a 

 box, dug out a hollow in it, and reared young there. This 

 nesting box is situated upon a window frame three feet from 

 an outside kitchen door. The illustration (Plate LIII) shows 

 the bird and her nest. 



