apparently enjoying the shade and tlie cool air which draws across ■ 

 the floor, even when the air seems very still outside. 



The differences in the temperature of the wide and narrow houses 

 is very great, and the birds show what they think about it by staying 

 in the yards in preference to the narrow houses. Of course, the 

 comfort of the birds is not greater than when they have good shade 

 out of doors, but the runs have not trees- or shrubs sufficient to fur- 

 nish shelter. 



The economy in the cost of the wide house over the narrow ones,- 

 when space is considered, is evident. The front and back walls in 

 the narrow house cost about as much per lineal foot as those in the • 

 wide house, and the greatly increased floor space is secured by 

 building in a strip of floor and roof, running lengthwise of the build- 

 ing. The carrying capacity of a house 20 feet wide is 66 per cent, 

 greater than that of a house 12 feet wide, and is secured by building 

 additional floor and roof space only. The walls, doors and windows 

 remain the same as in the narrow house, except that the front wall 

 is made a little higher. Three sills, which are six inches square,, 

 run lengthwise of the house, the central one supporting the floor 

 timbers in the middle. They rest on a rough stone wall, high enough 

 from the ground so that dogs can go under the building to look after 

 rats and skunks that might incline to make their homes there. The 

 stone wall rests on the surface of the ground. The floor timbers are 

 2x8 inches in size and rest wholly on top of the sills. All wall 

 studs rest on the sills ; the front ones are S feet long and the 

 back ones 6 feet 6 inches long. The roof is unequal in width, the ■ 

 ridge being in 8 feet from the front wall. The height of the ridge 

 from the sill to the extreme top is 12 feet 6 inches. All studding is 

 2 x 4 in size and the rafters are 2x5. The building is boarded 

 with inch boards and papered and shingled with good cedar shingles 

 on walls and roof. The floor is of two thicknesses of hemlock 

 boards, which break joints well in the laying. 



The building is divided by tight board partitions into 20 sections, 

 each section being 20 feet long. All of the sections are alike in con- 

 struction and arrangement. The front side of each section has two 

 windows of twelve lights of 10 x 12 glass, screwed on, upright, 2 feet 

 8 inches from each end of the room. They are three feet above the 

 floor. The space between the windows is 8 feet 10 inches long, and 

 the top part of it down from the plate, 31^ feet, is not boarded, but 



