312 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



and entertains her with the latest neighborhood gossip. These 

 houses should be placed on poles or on buildings in somewhat 

 secluded places. Martins and tree-swallows like to build their 

 nests twenty-five feet or more above the ground, but the other 

 birds usually prefer an elevation less .than twelve feet. Newly- 

 made houses, and particularly newly-painted ones, do not often 

 attract the birds.' 1 



Bird-houses should be protected from cats. If the houses 

 are in trees, several rings of barbed wire may run around the 

 tree spirally, near together, and held in place by staples. If 

 the houses are on poles which the cats can climb, the same 

 device may be used, or a horizontal shelf of tin may be 

 fastened below the house. 



One of the commonest difficulties with the use of bird- 

 houses is that they are taken possession of by English spar- 

 rows to the exclusion of the native birds. For bluebirds at 

 least this may sometimes be avoided by the use of the 

 sparrow-proof houses described and figured in Bird Lore, by 

 Mr. D. R. Geery, of Greenwich, Connecticut. " When designed 

 for bluebirds they should be suspended from a limb ten or 

 twelve feet from the ground, in such a manner as to allow 

 them to swing slightly. It may happen that the sparrows 

 will go to these houses and even commence to build ; but as 

 soon as they find that they swing and are not firm, they will 

 abandon them entirely. Wren-boxes should be stationary, 

 with an opening not much larger than a twenty-five-cent 

 piece, and placed so as to be well shaded most of the day." 

 Other observers have reported, however, that sparrows will 

 occupy such swinging houses. 



Helpful suggestions upon this phase of the subject may also 

 be gotten from an excellent little English book by John R. B. 

 Masefield, entitled "Wild Bird Protection," and from Neltje 

 Blanchan's "How to Attract the Birds.' 1 



An admirable idea has been carried out in the Manual 

 Training Department of the Worcester, Massachusetts, schools 



