THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 401 



An incident occurred in connection with this box which 

 shows how easily birds may be induced to occupy a nest- 

 ing site, and what influence an ample food supply may have 

 in deciding them. Two Chickadees came to the box in the 

 spring of 1906, and went in and out of it for several days, 

 but finally seemed to be dissatisfied, and went away. A few 

 days later a piece of suet was fastened to the window sill. 

 Within twenty-four hours the birds found it. They visited 

 it frequently, and at once began carrying nesting material 

 into the box. A supply of suet was kept there, and two 

 broods were reared in that box. The old birds fed on the 

 suet often when hard pressed to fill the nine hungry mouths 

 in the nest ; but even then the young were fed on insects. 



The Chickadees did not utilize a tin can for nesting pur- 

 poses until 1904, when, during a call on a neighbor, I saw 

 two Chickadees looking his house over in search of a nest- 

 ing place. I called his attention to them, and he expressed 

 a wish for a bird house. I took an old two-quart can from 

 the dump, made a wooden stopper for it, cut a small hole in 

 the stopper, and nailed the can up in the nearest tree. The 

 Chickadees examined it, and within twenty minutes began 

 building. Here they safely reared a brood. Evidently they 

 preferred a wooden doorway to their castle, but since then 

 they have learned to dispense with the wood. 



The next summer my neighbor, Mr. Lewis E. Carr, wired 

 up in a pine near his house an old varnish can that the boys 

 had somewhat distended during their annual Fourth of July 

 celebration. The Chickadees took up their quarters in it 

 at once, and also nested in it in 1906. This can and its 

 bird occupant are shown in Plate XLIX. Chickadees now 

 occupy at least three cans of various sizes and descriptions. 

 They seem to prefer those that are put up on or near houses. 

 There is every reason to believe that, were it not for the in- 

 troduction of the House Sparrow, several useful native birds 

 might easily be induced to breed about our houses, and even 

 in the cities, as familiarly as the Sparrow now does. 



