14 



White-breasted Nuthatch. — A box actually occupied by this 

 bird in 1914 measured 5 by 5 inches (inside dimensions). Height 

 12 inches front; 13| inches back. Entrance front, near top, 1^ 

 inches in diameter (Fig. 13). Mr. J. T. Melius of Wellesley 

 writes that this species has nested there in a bird house with 

 double-pitched roof, and the long axis horizontal. The dimen- 

 sions were 8 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 7 inches high. The 

 entrance was 1| inches in diameter and about 4 inches above 

 the bottom. A small platform was made just below the en- 

 trance, and the house was fastened to an electric-light pole 

 about 18 feet from the ground, facing the east and 8 feet from 

 a brick building. Probably a box made of bark, or slabs with 

 bark on, would attract this bird. 



Fig. 13. — Box used by white-breasted nuthatch. 



Red-breasted Nuthatch. — This bird has nested in a No. 2 

 Berlepsch nesting box made of yellow birch by the Meriden 

 Bird House Company, Meriden, New Hampshire, and placed in 

 a gray birch tree, in rather open land, with the entrance slightly 

 more than 7 feet above the ground. The entrance hole is If 

 inches in diameter. 



This is reported by Mr. H. S. Shaw, Jr.; of Dover, Massa- 

 chusetts, and is the only case, so far as my records show, where 

 a red-breasted nuthatch has nested in a bird box. 



Chickadee. — A box like Fig. 8 or Fig. 14 may be used, 10 by 

 4 by 3| inches inside dimensions. Long axis vertical. Entrance 

 hole Ij inches diameter, placed near top of box. Others recom- 

 mend an entrance 1| inches in diameter, or less, but my ex- 

 perience goes to show that our chickadee, like the European 

 titmice, prefers an opening a little larger than it needs, which 



