AIDS TO NESTING 213 



Ham Brewster, for example, have put up side by side both 

 hollow-log and board boxes, and find that more frequently 

 the latter are chosen and the former are left unoccupied. 



Following is the experience of Mr. Brewster on his sum- 

 mer place at Concord, Massachusetts, outlined to me in a 

 letter. Several years ago he put up about ten Von Ber- 

 lepsch boxes. Of these only one was ever occupied, by 

 bluebirds. Latterly he has been having boxes made of 

 boards, also cylinders of chestnut bark. All of such con- 

 struction that he put up in 1913 were occupied, nine by tree 

 swallows, two by bluebirds, two by house wrens, also three 

 pairs of flickers and one pair of crested flycatchers nested 

 in sections of hollow apple- trunks, boarded up at both ends, 

 with entrance holes cut in the sides. 



Others, however, report considerable success with the 

 Von Berlepsch boxes. What is needed now is a mass of 

 detailed data from different localities and under varying 

 conditions. It would be well if bird-lovers everywhere 

 would make experiments, keep accurate record of them, and 

 report in full detail to the Department of Applied Orni- 

 thology, National Association of Audubon Societies, New 

 York. It may be found that certain species prefer a par- 

 ticular type of box. It will be well for all dealers to furnish 

 several kinds, including the cheaper ones, of such models as 

 have proved effective. 



Mr. Forbush has found that the flicker, which would be 

 supposed to prefer the hollow-log type as being the exact 

 reproduction of its own nest, in cases where a log-box and a 

 board-box were placed side by side, did not seem to show 

 any decided preference, but used the board-box as readily as 

 the other. Finding that most birds like the cheap boxes 

 made from boards practically as well as the more expensive 

 log-box, and in some cases better, he now uses the former. 



