952 THE AMERICAN FARMER 



care of their eggs during the period of incubation; their final joy when the young break the 

 shells, and are born to the light; and their untiring devotion in obtaining choice bits of 

 insect-food for the nourishment of their offspring. Truly here is beauty at our door-yard, 

 and poetry has taken up her abode in our apple-tree. Purple martins and other members of 

 the swallow tribe will readily occupy boxes put up for their use. Wrens, too, are interesting 

 friends, and are easily induced to settle with us. &quot;We know of a case where a pair of 

 bluebirds found a happy home in an old beaver hat which had blown up and lodged in an 

 apple-tree. A good bird-house may be made of a medium-sized flower-plot, with the hole 

 somewhat enlarged, and the top covered with a board. Will not every one who has a dozen 

 rods of land make a bird-house of some kind, and thus help restore the proportions of the 

 feathered and insect races ? 



We of the United States are considerably behind European nations in caring for and 

 protecting insect-eating birds, and providing places for them to build their nests about our 

 dwellings and gardens. The Swiss and French may perhaps be said to stand first as regards 

 the protection of the smaller insect-eating species of birds, while the English, Scandinavians, 

 and Germans are not far behind them in this respect. The myriads of ravaging insects with 

 which the farmer has to contend in securing a crop in this country, show conclusively how 

 little protection these ever-active little insect-gleaners have received from us in the past, and 

 what may be anticipated in the future, unless better protection is given them from cruel and 

 wanton destruction. 



