6 



birds' enemies; also it may serve in winter as a night shelter 

 or sleeping place for a woodpecker or a party of nuthatches or 

 chickadees. We must allow the birds to be the judges of what 

 they want, as they and not we are to be suited. Therefore in 

 building a nesting box it is well to inquire first what kind of a 

 home the bird naturally chooses. 



General Considerations. 



Many people write me anxiously asking of what size nesting 

 boxes should be made and begging for exact dimensions; some 

 are unhappy lest the entrance holes face the wrong way; others 

 are anxious about ventilation; others feel sure that the smell of 

 paint on the nesting boxes or bird houses will drive the birds 

 away, while still others fear that they may get the box too high 

 or too low; but all these things make very little difference. 

 The situation and environment, and the size of the entrances, 



however, are important. I have known 

 tree swallows to nest in a round box 3| 

 inches in interior diameter, in a flowerpot 

 even smaller at the bottom, and in a 

 one-apartment bird house, nearly a foot 

 square and about 18 inches high from 

 floor to ridgepole (Fig. 1). This is one of 

 the most popular houses with tree swal- 

 FiG. 1.- Swallow house. l^^^'S. But why wastc enough lumber on 



one bird house to make three nesting 

 boxes? I have tried facing the entrance hole to all points of the 

 compass. The birds used them all.^ Painted or unpainted, 

 weathered or unweathered, wood, bark, cement, tin, clay, 

 pai)ier-mache and roofing felt, — all have been chosen in- 

 discriminately by feathered house hunters. Boxes placed 6 

 feet from the ground and others set on poles on the roofs 

 of tall city buildings have been taken. I have seen chickadees 

 nesting in a hole in a birch stump 2 feet from the ground 

 and in the hollow branch of an elm 65 feet high. One 

 wood duck settled in a hollow apple tree 3 feet from the 

 ground, and another 40 feet up in a hollow elm. Such ex- 



1 I am now convinced, however, that in New England it is best to have the entrance holes face 

 generally in a westerly direction. Only warm rains drive in from the south, but occasionally the 

 southern storms are very severe. 



