19S 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



[Pub. Doc. 



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of the entrances, however, are important. I have known tree 

 swallows to nest in a round box 3| inches in interior diameter, in 

 a flowerpot even smaller at the bottom, and in a one-apartment 



bird house, nearly a foot square 

 and about 18 inches high from 

 floor to ridgepole (Fig. 10). This 

 is one of the most popular houses 

 with tree swallows. But why 

 waste enough lumber on one 

 bird house to make three nesting 

 boxes? I have tried facing the 

 entrance hole to all points of the 

 compass. The birds used them 

 all.^ Painted or unpainted, 

 weathered or unweathered, wood, 

 bark, cement, tin, clay, papier 

 mache and roofing felt, — all have 

 been chosen indiscriminately 

 by feathered house hunters. 

 Boxes placed 6 feet from the 

 ground and others set on poles 

 on the roofs of tall city buildings have been taken. I have seen 

 chickadees nesting in a hole in a birch stump 2 feet from the 

 ground and in the hollow branch of an elm 65 feet up. One 

 wood duck settled in a hollow apple tree 

 3 feet from the ground, and another 40 

 feet up in a hollow elm. Such experi- 

 ences lead us to revise our opinions 

 regarding the exact size of the tenement 

 each bird requires and how high or low 

 it should be situated. I am not so posi- 

 tive as I once was regarding what is 

 best for certain species or what kind of 

 a box or situation will best please each 

 one. It seems that the birds have some individuality, or that 

 they need nesting places so badly that they will take almost 

 anything if it is so situated that it offers peace and safety. 



1 I am convinced, however, that in New England it is best to have the entrance holes face gen- 

 erally in a southerly direction. Only warm rains drive in from the south. 



Fig. 9. 



■ Box inside a building. (From 

 Biological Survey.) 



Fig. 10. — Swallow house. 



