Fig. 5. — Berlepsch box and flicker hole. 



whole capped by a tin or wooden cover, like that of a lard pail 

 or a berry box. Mr. Winthrop Packard makes a very pretty 

 box of roofing felt. (See Plate II., Fig. 1.) The best support 



is a slim pole. 



Large wooden conductors, 

 used to carry water down from 

 the eaves of large buildings, 

 may be obtained from some 

 dealers in lumber or moldings, 

 sawed into sections, and util- 

 ized precisely as in the case of 

 hollow limbs. 



Baron Hans von Berlepsch 

 of Seebach, Thuringia, Ger- 

 many, has invented a device for making nesting boxes similar 

 in shape to the nesting holes of woodpeckers, and he has been 

 wonderfully successful in attracting all hole-nesting German 

 birds to these boxes. (Fig. 5 and Plate II., 

 Fig. 2.) The theory on which they are built 

 is admirable, but after three years' trial of 

 them in this country I am convinced that most 

 Massachusetts birds do not prefer them to the 

 hollow limb or even to the rectangular box 

 (Fig. 6) that many people have used with 

 great success. The von Berlepsch style of 

 box may be better for typical woodpeckers, 

 such as the hairy and downy woodpeckers. 

 Mr. Ernest Harold Baynes reports two cases 



where downy woodpeckers feiiililliiiilliiihl 



have nested in these domi- ^'°- e-Cat-proof box. 

 ciles; but flickers and red-headed woodpeckers 

 nest in rectangular boxes. This latter type 

 of box is excellent for bluebirds, chickadees, 

 wrens, flickers and tree swallo\\^s. If made 

 18 inches deep for bluebirds it will be very 

 nearly cat proof. The smaller sizes of the 

 von Berlepsch type have been made and sold in Germany for 

 about 25 cents each, but here they cost about $1. A very fair 

 temporary substitute may be made by growing gourds which, 



Fig. 7. — Gourd. 



