BIRD HOUSES AND HOW TO BUILD THEM. 



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FIG. 22. Diagrams of house shown in figure 19 for 

 bluebirds. Thickness of boards f inch. 



opened for cleaning by turning a button and removing the bottom. 



This house is easy to build and if suitably proportioned is adapted 



t<> a great variety of birds. Plans are furnished for two sizes one 



for bluebirds and the other for 



screech owls or sparrow hawks. 

 The flicker house shown in 



figure 23 is designed to be placed 



on a post or the stub of a tree. 



The roof can be lifted in the 



same way that a stopper is re- 

 moved from a bottle. A house 



suitable for members of the 



woodpecker family and also for 



nuthatches and titmice, including chickadees, is shown in figure 25. 



It is attached to boles of trees. The bottom is removable, as appears 



in figure 26. 



Figure 29 shows a house designed for wrens and house finches. 



For wrens it may be placed on a tree or fence post. If attached near 



the eaves of a building, house finches or wrens 

 will use it. The front gable is open, entrance 

 to the room below being through the rear of 

 the upper floor. This house 

 can be opened for cleaning 

 by lifting out the upper floor. 

 Martin houses are built 

 on the apartment plan to 

 satisfy the social instinct so 

 marked in martins but so 

 conspicuously lacking in 

 most other birds. They 

 usually contain not less than 

 10 or 12 rooms and for this 

 reason are relatively compli- 

 cated, especially if they are 

 miniatures of elaborate 

 buildings, as is often the 

 case. Like the single room 

 houses, they should be easy 

 to inspect and clean from 

 top to bottom and, if possi- 

 ble, should be made proof 

 against the English sparrow. An attempt 



to combine these essentials in a plain house is illustrated in figure 



32. The body of this house slides upon its pole, to the top of 



which the roof is solidly attached (fig. 36). The pole is hollow and 

 51982 Bull. 60914 2 



FIG. 23. Flicker house to be 

 mounted on post or stub of 

 tree. 



