Popular Science Monthly 



151 



Martin 

 houses made 

 of gourds 



veranda post, on the bedroom window sill, 

 or in the fork of a tree. But place it 

 beyond the reach of cats, and do not forget 

 that by making the hole small, you will 

 prevent large birds from entering the 

 wrens' home. Place it in the shade. 

 Otherwise the tin will be heated 

 by the sun. Wrens are so fond 

 of hauling sticks and twigs to 

 their nesting sites that a tall, 

 slender little house, with the 

 entrance well above the middle 

 of the front, seems to suit them 

 best. They will also colo- 

 nize if a house with many 

 nests is provided for them. 



In southern states, the use 

 of gourds is ven,^ common. 

 The entrance is made in the 

 side, and a drain-hole is left 

 in the bottom. A neat 

 house for wrens can be made 

 from a cigar box. All wren 

 houses should be placed in 

 early May, but since wrens 

 rear two broods, they will 

 often take possession of a box 

 put out late in June. 



Regardless of the material 

 used, the house should be all 

 built and in position a fort- 

 night before the bride and 

 groom arrive from their 

 honeymoon. Mr. Wren's 

 first act will be to fly away in 

 search of an old cast-ofT 

 snake skin. He will bring 

 home a bit of it for a sort of 

 hearthstone relic — perhaps a 

 protective measure, since it 

 is said that snakes will never 

 go near a discarded skin. 



Bluebirds love weathered wood. 

 This one is rearing her young 

 in an old discarded mail box 



A colony house for 

 martins located on 

 the Henry Ford 

 Farms, Dearborn, 

 Mich. The iron 

 pipe, used as a pole, 

 guards against pry- 

 ing cats and squir- 

 rels. Martins are 

 fond of large houses 

 suitable for 

 many families. 

 They like a 

 house mount- 

 ed on a pole 

 at least fif- 

 teen feet high 

 and as much 

 as fifty feet 

 away from 

 the nearest tree or 

 building as a 

 safety measure 



Other birds have their crotchets too. 

 The red-breasted nuthatch, for instance, 

 after he has excavated his wooden house in 

 some old dead stump, invariably collects a 

 lot of soft pitch and makes a sticky ring 

 around his doorway. 



Birds are as particular about 

 their perches as you and I are 

 about our beds. If no bird will 

 enter the bird house that you 

 have built, look to the little perch 

 at the doorway. Did you un- 

 wittingly place it on the left 

 are popular side? All birds are right- 

 throughout handed. Be sure the perch 

 the South ig Qn the right, and then the 

 bird can hop into the nest in 

 the "right" way. 



The largest and most 

 beautiful of the swallow 

 tribe, the purple martin, is 

 also one of the friendliest and 

 most useful to the farmer. 

 It comes north in the spring. 

 Sometimes it arrives so early 

 that the cozy little home 

 provided for it becomes a 

 tomb when a sleet storm 

 sweeps all insect food from 

 the air. 



Martins are so chummy 

 that they always seem to be 

 having a family reunion. 

 By all means, provide a large 

 eighteen or twenty-family 

 apartment house, with all 

 modern conveniences, and 

 your efforts will be gener- 

 ously rewarded. They de- 

 light in a house of many 

 rooms, especially if it is 

 mounted on a pole at least 



A mountain bluebird feeding her 

 fledglings in a pan of suet which 

 someone has attached to a tree 



