ATTRACTING BIRDS AROUND THE HOME 235 



house best adapted for this particular bird. Then put it up 

 in the most suitable place in your yard. 



2. If the house is occupied, the following observations may 

 be made : bird using box, date nest begun, date young hatched, 

 date young left nest, number of times young fed in an hour, 

 time of day birds begin to feed young, time of last feeding, 

 kind of food brought, division of work between father and 

 mother. 



SCHOOL PROJECT 7 



Purpose. To put up nesting boxes in the school yard. 



Directions. If the schoolhouse is so located that birds are 

 found there, and if there are good opportunities for putting up 

 bird houses, the class may arrange to build a few houses and 

 put them on the school ground. 



Providing nesting material. Still other birds may be 

 attracted around our homes by putting out materials that 

 birds use in making their nests. Among the best materials 

 to put out are yarns (in pieces about a foot long), strings, 

 horsehair, small strips of cloth, cotton batting, and shoe- 

 maker's flax. Such birds as the oriole, chipping sparrow, 

 robin, and. others may use them. 



Feeding winter birds. During the winter when snow 

 covers the ground, it is difficult for birds to obtain food. 

 If food is placed out for these birds, they will come very 

 close to the house, even to the window sill, where they can 

 be watched from just inside the window. Among the more 

 common birds which come around the house to feed are the 

 woodpeckers, the chickadee, the nuthatch, the bluejay, 

 the junco, and tree sparrow. These birds, especially the 

 chickadee, often become sufficiently tame to feed from the 

 hand. 



Kinds of food. Birds may be divided into two groups 

 according to their food, into seed-eating and insect-eating 

 birds, although many eat both seeds and insects. The best 



