Bird Lovers as Landlords 203 



be hung on a well-exposed trunk or branch, and 

 though a little shade will do no harm and is 

 even desirable, the box should get plenty of air 

 and sunlight. 



Position 



If we examine the nests which birds make for 

 themselves in the trunks and branches of trees, 

 we shall find that sometimes these trunks and 

 branches are perpendicular, and that sometimes 

 they are leaning. And when they are leaning, 

 we shall find that the entrance holes leading to 

 the nests are .usually on the under side. We can 

 readily see good reasons for this. If they were 

 on the upper side the rain water would run in, 

 and moreover it would be less convenient for the 

 birds to go in and out over an overhanging sur- 

 face. So, as our object is to give the birds a 

 home as nearly like a natural one as possible, we 

 must hang our boxes either on upright trunks 

 or branches, or on the under sides of leaning ones. 

 They may also be erected on fence posts, and 

 where the birds have become tame and fearless, 

 on the sides of houses and barns. Of the occu- 

 pied nest boxes on the writer's farm within the 

 last year or two, some were on the house itself, 

 others on the barn, on gate and fence posts, in 



