18 



tially decayed birch stumps by simply boring a one and one- 

 fourth-inch auger hole into the side of the stump, at a point some 

 distance from the ground. The birds, finding a hole already 

 begun, will finish it and build a nest 

 there, as they do sometimes in the ex- 

 cavations made by woodpeckers. Be- 

 lieving that these birds might take 

 advantage of a nesting box if it were 

 provided for them, we first cut away all 

 the dead stumps within a radius of 

 about two hundred yards of the house 

 and garden. Then food was put out 

 in the winter on branches fastened to 

 the house. A small pine tree was 

 placed near the kitchen window and 



FIG. 3. Observation Box 1 > . 



closed. another at the dining room window, 



and these were hung with bits of meat, bone and suet. The 

 chickadees and other birds soon found them, and came to 

 them regularly day after day and hour after hour, continuing 

 their Christmas festivities all winter and well into the early 

 spring. A single bird box was then put 

 up at a window in a loft over the wood- 

 shed. This was made after a pattern I 

 began using thirty years ago, and may 

 be called an observation box (Fig. 3). 

 As shown in Fig 4, it is provided with 

 a door, which consists of a hinged side 

 facing the window, and which can be 

 opened at will by the observer. A 

 pane of glass is also inserted in this 

 side, so that, when the door is opened, 

 the eggs or nestlings are protected by 

 the thick glass from dangers without. 

 Such a box must be so placed that the 

 sun cannot shine into it, as this might endanger the lives of 

 the young birds. Before this time the English sparrows had 

 been all shot, or driven away from the premises, the mice and 

 squirrels had been ejected from the bird boxes, and the chicka- 

 dees began to manifest some curiosity as to the purpose of these 



FIG. 4. Observation Box 

 open. 



