APPEXDIX. 427 



Heisemann says that the Hainich wood, soutli of Eisenacli, cover- 

 ing several square miles, was stripped in the spring of 1905 by the 

 larvte of a little tortrix, but the woods of Baron von Berlepsch, in 

 which there had long been many occupied nesting boxes, were 

 untouched. The place actually stood out among the remaining 

 woods like a green oasis, and the first traces of the plague were 

 apparent a quarter of a mile from the estate. This proved that the 

 birds from the von Berlepsch woods travelled at least that distance 

 in securing insects for their young. 



Mr. ^Yilliam Brewster has put up a number of the von Berlepsch 

 boxes at his place in Concord, Mass., where, he says, the birds 

 do not make so much use of them as they do of other boxes, such as 

 are figured on Plate XLVII, Figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7 (opposite page 391). 



The von Berlepsch nesting boxes are heavy, and not so easily 

 put up as light wooden boxes or those made of bark, but the bark 

 boxes are not so durable. The only Woodpeckers that have occu- 

 pied the von Berlepsch boxes in this country, so far as I ha^'e 

 been able to learn, are the Red-headed Woodpecker and the Flicker. 



Mr. Ernest Harold Baynes contributes an illustration of a pair 

 of Flickers building in one of his boxes. It has been proven, how- 

 ever, that Flickers will nest in rectangular boxes made of the right 

 size and shape, particularly if a quantity of cork, such as is used 

 in packing Malaga grapes, be placed in the bottom of the box. 

 Many American birds have become so accustomed to using, rec- 

 tangular nesting boxes that they seem to prefer them to the Wood- 

 peckers' holes. 



Mr. Frank C. Pellett of Atlantic, la., describes in Bird-Lore ^ 

 his successful experiences with Woodpeckers in rectangular nest- 

 ing boxes. He states that a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers at- 

 tempted to occupy such a box, but finally deserted it, for the reason, 

 as he believes, that, as these birds do not line the nest, the eggs 

 rolled around on the flat bottom of the box. He then built boxes 

 of weather-beaten six-inch and eight-inch boards. The six-inch 

 size apparently was large enough for the Woodpeckers, in this 

 case, but the eight-inch boxes are better to accommodate Sparrow 

 Hawks and Screech Owls, all of which nested in the homes put 

 up for them. These boxes were made about two and one-half feet 

 long, with from six to twelve inches of cork chips in the bottom. 

 Coarse sawdust probably would serve as well. The entrance hole 

 was made three inches across, but Mr. Pellett states that a Flicker 

 nested in a box having aa entrance but two inches in diameter. 



1 Bird- Lore, March-April, 1911, pp. 79-82. 



