taken, or hollow limbs, pruned from apple or other trees, may 



be sawed into sections about a foot in length, the lower end of 



each plugged, and the upper end covered with an overhanging 



piece of board sloping to the front. A hole may be bored in the 



front of this contrivance for an entrance, and a 



piece of board may be nailed on the back (Fig. 2), 



so that the box when finished may be screwed or 



nailed to a post or pole. Nesting boxes should not 



he nailed to trees, as after the birds have left them 



they serve as hiding places for gypsy moths and 



receptacles for moths' eggs; also if nails are driven 



into a tree they may in time be overgrown by the 



wood and become dangerous obstacles for axe or 



saw when the tree is cut up. The hollow of the limb fio- 2- — HoUow 



should not be less than 3j to 4 inches in diameter 



at the bottom, and 6 to 8 inches in depth below the entrance. 



The deeper the box, the longer the overhang of the roof, and 



the higher the hole the less chance there will be for cats and 



the other large enemies of birds to reach the eggs or young. 



Perches are not necessary. Some birds like them, but they give 



the enemies of the birds the advantage of a better foothold. 



Log Nesting Box. 



Ernest Thompson Seton recommends the following plan: — 

 A nesting box may be made of a stick of 

 wood or a section of a small log by first splitting 

 off four slabs with an axe and then nailing in 

 at each end a section sawed from the core that 

 is left after the slabs are split off. A hole may 

 be bored for an entrance for the birds. (See 

 diagram. Fig. 3.) This box may be quickly 

 made of wdiite pine, chestnut or cedar. A sec- 



Fia. 3. — Seton 

 box. 



tion without knots should be chosen. 



Bark Nesting Boxes. 

 Neat boxes may be made of slabs with the bark on (Fig. 4), 

 or a rough box may be covered with bark in place of paint, but 

 all bark left on bird houses should be firmly nailed on, as other- 

 wise it will come of? sooner or later. In "Bird-Lore" for 



