40 METHODS OF ATTRACTING BIRDS 



to go into a socket in the ground, and then hoth 

 pole and house may be taken down in the fall and 

 kept under shelter until the martins return in the 

 spring ; or, if the pole is hinged near the bottom, 

 the box may be still more readily taken indoors. 

 This will prevent the sparrows from intrenching 

 themselves within. If a cedar pole is used, the 

 bottom should be well tarred wherever it comes 

 in contact with the ground. It should be set 

 deep in the ground to give it the requisite firm- 

 ness. If the nests of martins are dusted occasion- 

 ally with fresh insect powder, it will relieve them 

 of the vermin which always congregate in large 

 occupied bird-houses." 



Screech Owl. Only one record has come to 

 the author's notice of the nesting of the screech 

 owl in artificial boxes, that by Mr. E. H. For- 

 bush, in " Useful Birds and Their Protection." 

 " A box of 12 inches square and 15 inches high 

 is probably none too large for the screech owl, 

 as three or four young birds soon render the 

 nest very filthy, and on this account require 

 extra room. Nevertheless a pair of screech owls, 

 at our home in Wareham, reared a brood of four 

 young in the grocery box shown in the illustration. 

 Allowing the birds to be the best judges of what 

 they want, the dimensions of this box, seven by 



