18 



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Supporting Shelves and Other Conveniences for Nesting Birds. 



Some birds which will not enter bird houses or ordinary 

 nesting boxes may take advantage of other simple facilities for 

 nesting. 



Robin. — The robin uses mud as a framework for its nest, 

 and as this makes the nest heavy it requires a good foundation 

 and a roof over it to render it weatherproof. Robins' nests often 

 are dislodged or blown down in storms, and sometimes the birds, 

 warned perhaps by experience, learn to place their nests on 

 some projection under the eaves of a house porch or summer 

 house; on the end of a projecting log under the eaves of a log 

 house; on a beam under the roof of a shed or railway station; 



under a bridge; under the over- 

 hanging sod on the edge of a 

 bank; in a hollow trunk; in a 

 barn cellar; or even in a bird 

 house. Mrs. Mabel Osgood 

 Wright experimented years ago 

 with shallow wooden trays 

 about 6 inches square, bracket- 

 ing each one to a post, grape 

 arbor or building, always with a 

 branch, eaves, arbor or other 

 screen or protection overhead. 

 The robins did not use them 

 the first year. The second year 

 two were used, and another year five more. These trays should be 

 made so that they will not hold water. Mr. Clayton E. Stone 

 of Lunenburg. Massachusetts, whose boxes for robins are used 

 by the birds, constructs a roofed receptacle of thin box boards, 

 with four corner posts of two pieces each, to support the roof. 

 Dimensions, 7 inches wide, 9 long and 7| high, with a flat roof 

 overhanging an inch or more all round. In my experience a 

 steep slant to the roof has been most satisfactory^, as otherwise 

 the birds sometimes nest on top of the box. A small grape 

 basket hung or nailed up under projecting eaves or a shed roof 

 may be used by robins, swallows or phoebes, particularly if a 

 little hay is placed in it. A pair of Carolina wrens at Fair- 



FiQ. 19. — ; Robins' nest on log cabin. 



