148 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of Agriculture, entitled 

 "Bird Houses and How to 

 Build Them." All other 

 birds' houses should be 

 built with only one com- 

 partment. 



The size and position of 

 the opening are much 

 more important than the 

 exact size of the box. A 

 round hole is the best, 

 and, except in martin 

 houses, should be cut above 

 the middle line on one side 

 and preferably about two 

 inches from the top. All 

 hole-nesting birds, except 

 the martin, wish to be out 

 of sight from the entrance 

 while incubating. 



If there are not many 

 sparrows o r starlings 

 about, it will be better to 

 make the openings in all 

 the boxes, except those for 

 the largest birds, \ l /z 

 inches in diameter. This 

 will admit birds up to the 

 size of the bluebird and 

 tree swallow, and is not 

 large enough to be objec- 

 tionable to the wrens and 

 chickadees. If sparrows 



A HOME FOR THREE SUCCESSIVE YEARS 



Wrens have returned to this box for three years, and are expected to 

 do so for many more. The last young wren of the new family is seen 

 leaving the nesting box. 



because the woodpeckers 

 build no nests and must 

 have something to keep 

 the eggs from rolling 

 about. A layer of saw- 

 dust will do no harm in 

 any other box, but is not 

 necessary. 



PLACING THE BOX 



Quite as important as 

 the size and position of the 

 opening is the selection of 

 the place to put the box. 

 It is possible to put up ten 

 or fifteen boxes and have 

 nothing but house spar- 

 rows nesting in them, 

 when, if properly placed, 

 they would be occupied by 

 several pairs of wrens, 

 swallows or bluebirds. If 

 several boxes are put up, 

 they should be at least 25 

 feet apart and preferably 

 farther. These native 

 birds are not socially in- 

 clined toward other hole- 

 nesting species, and drive 

 away all others from the 

 immediate vicinity of their 

 established domain. If one 

 examines the natural nest- 



are numerous, however, one can keep them out of the 

 boxes and still admit the smaller species by making the 

 opening 1% inches in diameter. 



A table of the proper diameters for the openings of 

 bird houses (for the different species of birds) as given 

 by Mr. H. K. Job is as follows (where two figures are 

 given they represent the maximum and minimum sizes 

 which are correct) : 



a. V/% inches: house wren, Bewick's wren, Carolina 

 wren, chickadee. 



b. V/ A inches: white-breasted nuthatch, tufted tit- 

 mouse. 



c. V/ 2 to 1-Hs inches: bluebird, downy woodpecker, 

 crested flycatcher, tree swallow, violet-green swallow. 



d. 1J4 to 2 inches: red-headed woodpecker, hairy 

 woodpecker. 



e. 2]/ 2 inches: flicker, saw-whet owl, purple martin. 

 /. 3 inches : screech owl, sparrow hawk. 



g. V/i inches: barn owl, wood duck. 



NESTING MATERIAL 



Xo nesting material in the form of straws, feathers 

 or sticks should be placed in the box. This would dis- 

 courage rather than encourage prospective tenants, for 

 they always rent unfurnished. In flicker and other wood- 

 lacker boxes there should be placed in the bottom a 



uple of inches of ground cork or coarse sawdust 



ing cavities of any of these birds, he will find that with 

 few exceptions they are in the open places in bright sun- 

 light or light shade, and never among the thick branches 

 of a tree or in dense shade. The best place, therefore, is 

 on a pole 8 to 12 feet from the ground in an open space or 

 at the edge of trees facing the open. A post on the porch 

 or the unshaded side of the house will also serve if the 

 box is made to face out. House wrens and nuthatches are 

 the exceptions that will sometimes use boxes placed in 

 dense shade. The trunk of a large tree, a telegraph pole 

 oi a high fence post are other places which will prove 

 satisfactory, although perhaps not quite so much so as 

 the separate post. An excellent place for the large 

 flicker or sparrow hawk box is the top of the stub of a 

 tree whose upper branches have died and been cut away. 



CARE OF THE BOX 



If a box is well made and once in position, it need 

 never be moved. Frail or fancy boxes should be taken 

 in each fall and replaced in March. Cleaning a box is 

 not necessary under ordinary circumstances, as the birds 

 will do their own renovation, but it is well to have the 

 top or one side hinged, so that one can get at the inside 

 it necessary, to throw out the nests of sparrows or squir- 

 rels or caterpillars, or to clean out the box in case any- 

 thing happens to the old birds so that the young die. 

 Aside from this there is little need of care and at the 



