NESTING FACILITIES 139 



them protection and quiet, is to provide for 

 them nesting facilities. A certain number of 

 birds, such as the different tits, for instance, 

 build in holes in trees, or in similar situations ; 

 and their wants are easily supplied by hanging 

 up suitable nesting-boxes. They are not at all 

 disposed, however, to accept each and every 

 box that may be offered to them, having their 

 own views on the subject. The box must be 

 of the proper size and form, so as not to require 

 too much nesting material, and should have the 

 proper aspect and be protected from wind and 

 drifting rain. 



This is now, however, made easy for us by 

 the enterprise of the thorough-going Germans, 

 who have long ago appreciated at its proper 

 value the part that birds play in forestry and 

 agriculture. The Board of Agriculture of Prussia 

 has experimented largely with such nesting- 

 boxes. At one station we read of 2,000 boxes 

 being hung up, at another 2,100, while in the 

 Grand Duchy of Hesse some 9,300 were used, 

 and by the second year all occupied. These 

 statements are taken from a little book entitled 

 How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds, 1 which 

 is cordially recommended to all interested in the 

 subject. In it will be found fully related the 



1 London : Witherby & Co., High Holborn. 



