INSECT-EATING BIRDS. 



171 



The following rules apply to the manner of hanging-up the 

 nest-boxes : 



The boxes should be hung facing towards the east or south 

 only : never towards the west. 



As starlings are sociable birds, several boxes for them 

 may be hung at a height of 20 to 25 feet on the same 

 tree, but for other species only one box should be hung on 

 a tree. 



Boxes for titmice should be hung 10 to 16 feet high in a 

 dark place, best of all in coniferous 

 forest, on silver-fir or spruce trees. 



Boxes for redstarts and flycatchers, 

 on the contrary, should be hung 10 

 to 16 feet high under light groups of 

 trees, and on the borders of thin 

 places and clearings. 



(iii) Shrubs should be planted in 

 sheltered places, along a brook, or 

 by a spring, as water is a necessity 

 for birds, also on rocks, steep places, 

 etc. Suitable bushes are privet, 

 honeysuckle, viburnum, elder, white 

 thorn and wild roses ; as an over- 

 growth," pollard- willows and moun- 

 tain-ash. Undergrowth should also 



be carefully preserved in high forest, unless it must be cut 

 for sylvicultural reasons. 



(iv) The birds should be fed when deep snow is on the 

 ground. Bread or boiled pulse should not be given, as these 

 substances become acid and unwholesome after wetting. For 

 insectivorous birds pieces of suet or chopped meat are suitable. 

 Thorns should be placed over the food, so that crows, doves, 

 and sparrow-hawks may be kept off. The following places are 

 most suitable as feeding grounds : high ground for titmice, 

 tree-creepers, woodpeckers and finches ; roads for yellow- 

 ammers and hedge and tree-sparrows ; fields and gardens for 

 robins, linnets, finches, and migratory birds from the north ; 

 for fieldfares, thrushes and blackbirds, the food should be 

 placed under a shady conifer at the edge of the forest ; the places 



Fig. 68. Nesting-box for the 

 Starling, of tarred straw. 



