No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 87 



places for them. The great majority of them were reared on 

 5 acres in the open. Only 10 were raised in the 50 boxes in 

 the woods, and these were in nests near the borders. 



So far as we know, a cat succeeded in climbing to but one 

 of the boxes on the poles. The cat could not reach the young 

 birds in this flicker box, as the box was too deep for her, and 

 therefore the birds got out safely. Only one box on a pole 

 was known to have been entered by squirrels. Many of the 

 boxes in trees were visited by squirrels and the entrances of 

 a few were gnawed and enlarged by them. 



Type of Nesting Box Most Successful. 



The type of box most successful this year, as last, was 

 that recommended by me in Circular 47, and made by E. 

 C. Ware of Wareham, Massachusetts. These boxes were in- 

 expensive, and the plans and dimensions were furnished by 

 this office. They were made of pine boards five-eighths and 

 seven-eighths of an inch thick, and covered with a heavy oil 

 stain. ^ Last year many of them were damaged by wood- 

 peckers or squirrels which sought to enlarge the entrances. 

 This year the entrance holes of most of them were guarded 

 by zinc, as shown in the illustrations. This is effectual. A 

 maker of nesting boxes has informed some of his customers 

 that such a protection for the opening will keep the birds 

 away, but every box occupied by birds on my place this year 

 was provided with a zinc collar around the entrance, which was 

 stained or painted the same color as the box. The birds did 

 not notice this addition. 



Other types of boxes were used without success. Twenty- 

 five hollowed gourds, such as are successful in New York State, 

 were put up on trees in the garden and some on a pole; not 

 one was occupied, and the birds rarely went near them. A 

 single round box made of roofing paper was placed on a pole 

 in the garden, but no bird was seen to enter it. Some people 

 succeed with these boxes, others do not. I have given up 

 European boxes of the von Berlepsch style, as apparently our 



' Since the above was written William P. Wharton has written me that of 21 similar nesting 

 boxes which he mounted on short poles on the posts of his pasture fences, 18 were occupied by 

 birds this year and 2 more had nests partially completed. 



