18 



FARMERS BULLETIN 609. 



LOCATION. 



The location of a bird house or food shelter has much to do with its 

 success, for the reason that birds have decided notions as to proper 

 surroundings for a dwelling. Martins prefer to breed near houses, 

 but not within 20 feet of trees or buildings. Bluebirds are inclined to 

 select orchards or pastures having scattered trees. Wrens, thrashers, 

 and catbirds live in thick shrubbery. Robins like trees with sturdy 

 trunks and branches. Titmice, nuthatches, and most of the wood- 

 peckers are woodland species, although flickers and red-headed wood- 

 peckers are more at home among the scattered trees of roadsides and 

 pastures. Song sparrows frequent weedy swales and brush fences. 

 Swallows do not enter woods so that a house would be as attractive 

 to them in one open place as in another. The eastern phcebe, the 

 black phcebe, and the house finch, while not limited to the haunts of 

 man, are noticeably partial to them. Crested flycatchers, screech 

 owls, barn owls, and sparrow hawks are governed more by conven- 

 ience than by taste; although normally inclined to hold aloof from 



FIG. 47. Cross and longitudinal sections of food house shown in figure 46. 



man, they have in many instances reared their broods in close prox- 

 imity to dwellings. Barn owls, true to their name, accept suitable 

 quarters in buildings without hesitation. 



CONCLUSION. 



Before erecting bird houses one should first determine the kind of 

 birds to which his premises are adapted. The question usually next 

 arising is as to the number of birds that can be accommodated. 

 Unless grounds are large, it is generally useless to expect as tenants 

 more than a pair of each species, except martins. However, the 

 singular intolerance shown by most birds during the breeding season 

 to others of their kind does not operate between those of different 

 species. A dozen different kinds of birds will pursue their several 

 modes of hunting and raise their families on the same lot, but rarely 

 two of the same sort. 1 Of all our house birds, martins alone are 



1 The fact that birds are more tolerant toward strangers than toward relatives was well illustrated by an 

 observation made recently by the writer in New Mexico. A one-story tool house 10 feet square had nailed 

 to three corners of its roof rough bird houses made from packing boxes. One was occupied by violet-green 

 swallows, another by western bluebirds, and the third by English sparrows. A still more remarkable asso- 

 ciation of different species has been reported by Otto Widmann, of St. Louis, Mo., who once had a pair eacli 

 of flickers, martins, house wrens, and English sparrows nesting simultaneously in the sama house. 



