204 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Fig. 17. — Owl box. 



sawdust and dry earth mixed must be placed in the bottom, as 



woodpeckers make no nest but rely on decaying wood or chips 



which they strike off the tree to make a bed for their eggs. 



(See Figs. 15 and 16 and Plate V.) 

 Sparroio Hawk. — Flicker boxes have been used occasionally 



by sparrow hawks, but a more roomy box, at least 8 inches in 



diameter, would be better. 



Screech Owl. — Inside dimensions of box actually occupied on 

 my place in which young were raised, 7 by 

 11 by 15 inches. Long axis vertical. Size 

 of entrance hole, 3 inches* wide by 4 inches 

 high (Fig. 17). 



Wood Duck. — Inside measurements, about 

 10 by 10 by 24 inches. Entrance, 4 inches 

 in diameter and 18 inches from the bottom. 

 Long axis vertical. 



Robin. — The robin uses mud as a frame- 

 work for its nest, and as this makes the nest 



heavy it requires a good foundation and a roof over it to render 



it weatherproof. Robins' nests often are dislodged or blown 



down in storms, and sometimes the birds, warned perhaps by 



experience, learn to place their nests on some projection under 



the eaves of a house porch or summer house; on the end of a 



projecting log under the eaves 



of a log house; on a beam under 



the roof of a shed or railway 



station; under a bridge; under 



the overhanging sod on the edge 



of a bank; in a hollow trunk; 



in a barn cellar; or even in a 



bird house. Mrs. Mabel Osgood 



Wright experimented years ago 



with shallow wooden trays about 



6 inches square, bracketing each 



one to a post, grape arbor or 



building, always with a branch, 



eaves, arbor or other screen or 



protection overhead. The robins did not use them the first year. 



The second year two were used, and the last year five others. 



These trays should be made so that they will not hold water. A 



Fig. 18. — Robins' neat on log cabin. 



