XIV 

 DEPENDABLE BIRD HOUSES 



WHERE THE FEATHERED SONGSTERS FIND PRAC- 

 TICAL NESTING PLACES AND PROTECTION 

 FROM THEIR ENEMIES 



IN the West Indies there flourishes a stately tree 

 that can give the whole world a lesson in providing 

 dependable homes for the birds. It is commonly 

 known by the curious name of " Monkey Puzzle 

 Tree." Occasionally it is called " Snake Puzzle 

 Tree." At first glance it does not seem to offer any 

 special characteristic to account for its fame or its 

 odd name, as it is simply a well-proportioned tree, 

 with its symmetrical growth held well up above the 

 ground, the big trunk being bare of branches for 

 about fifteen or twenty feet. But whether the tree 

 is found over-towering the low growths in the hot, 

 moist tropical jungles or in the dooryards, near the 

 homes of the natives, it is invariably well filled with 

 many varieties of birds. The chattering monkeys 

 and the big snakes that flourish in the jungles 

 never climb this tree, nor attempt to molest the nest- 

 ing places to search for eggs and young birds among 

 its branches. Close inspection of the bark of the 

 trunk discloses the secret. "What appears at a little 



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