Part I.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 117 



them in some respects. His method of fastening the top so that 

 it may be quickly removed is simple and inexpensive, and his 

 plan of covering the wooden top with roofing paper so that 

 the paper overhangs in front and at the sides is an excellent 

 one to keep the contents dry. 



He has not only perfected an inexpensive wooden box but has 

 arranged to secure large numbers of small nesting boxes, made 

 of heavy two-ply roofing paper, that may be packed flat and 

 sold at $5 per hundred. They may be put together by the 

 buyer, as all are punched ready for the fasteners. Each of Mr. 

 Lee's nesting boxes is provided with a galvanized-iron plate sur- 

 rounding the entrance hole, — a very necessary adjunct in a 

 land of squirrels and woodpeckers. The roofing paper boxes are 

 yet untried, but somewhat similar domiciles have been used by 

 the birds. Probably, however, they should be put up where 

 they will be in the shade during the hotter part of the day. 

 The wooden boxes have been very successful. Mr. Lee is not a 

 dealer in nesting boxes, but will supply at cost those who can 

 use 100 or more, and is glad to furnish patterns to those who 

 will make the boxes for their own use; therefore his plans are 

 published herewith. 



]Mr. E. C. Ware of Wareham has invented a nesting-box trap 

 for the English sparrow which is somewhat similar in design 

 to that presented at the Annual Congress of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union at Philadelphia in November by Ernest 

 Thompson Seton. Mr. Seton invented his box years ago, while 

 Mr. Ware, working along the same lines, perfected his early in 

 1915. Mr. Seton asserts that the chief advantage of the box 

 is not that sparrows are caught, but that the others become 

 suspicious of the box, and after one or two have been trapped in 

 it no English sparrow will enter, while native birds will con- 

 tinue to nest in it. The trap will not spring on the entrance of 

 the bird, but is sprung by the owner, who by day or night pulls 

 a string when the bird is inside. This closes the entrance with 

 a shutter and thus imprisons the bird, after which it may be 

 taken out by opening the top. 



