THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 387 



always openings left for the birds to enter. The rafters 

 were round or rough-hewn timbers, on which they could 

 find points of attachment for their nests. Most barns now 

 built are closely boarded and battened, clapboarded or 

 shingled to the ground. No entrance hole is left for the 

 birds. The timbers are sawn so smoothly that the birds, 

 if they get in, can find no safe attachment for their nests. 

 Even where the eaves project so as to give sufficient shelter 

 for Swallows, the mud with which they build their nests 

 will not stick to the planed and painted boards. 



Let every farmer having such a barn cut an ornamental 

 opening at least a foot wide in each gable, leaving it open 

 all summer, so that the Swallows may fly in ; or, better still, 

 cut an opening three or four feet long over the barn door, 

 through which Swallows can go at will. Let him nail rough 

 cleats horizontally on some of the rafters, or put up little 

 bracket shelves thereon ; and let each farmer having a barn 

 with wide, projecting eaves put up a long shelf, cleat, or 

 joist on the side of the barn within a foot of the eaves, for 

 the Eaves Swallows ; and we may in time have more Swal- 

 lows than ever before, provided care is taken to shoot ma- 

 rauding English SpaiTows. If we had more Swallows and 

 Phcebes we should have fewer flies, mosquitoes, and garden 

 pests. 



The Chimney Swifts have been driven away by the con- 

 struction of modern chimneys, and destroyed by unseason- 

 able storms. They still nest in the large chimneys of the 

 older houses. A box made of boards planed on the out- 

 side may be built of the size and shape of an old-fashioned 

 chimney, with similar divisions, and firmly fastened upon 

 the roof of a building, to attract the Swifts. It is not nec- 

 essary that it be high, or even that it be upon the top of a 

 building ; but it should be out of reach of cats. Possibly a 

 few thin, wooden cleats nailed horizontally inside will assist 

 the birds. By means of a door in such a structure, and an 

 arrangement of mirrors, the habits of these interesting birds 

 may be studied. 



The Phrebe prefers a roof over its head, such as is some- 

 times furnished by the upturned roots of a large tree, a 



