when the contents have been removed, are acceptable to 

 many birds if tied upon poles or trees (Fig. 7), but they are 

 not so durable as well-made wooden boxes, and I have not had 

 much success with them. 



My first nesting boxes, all of which were successful, were 

 made of old shingles, picked up from the ground when the 

 barn was reshingled, and some pieces of old weathered boards 

 removed from the ridgepole at that time. A square section 

 about 3^ inches in diameter was sawed from the ridgeboard for 

 the top of the box, and another 4 inches wide was used for the 

 bottom, the shingles being nailed to them (Fig. 8). A saw, 

 hammer and jackknife and a few nails were the only tools 

 and materials required. I have made such a box 

 in twelve minutes. These boxes were nailed up 

 in elm, cherry and apple trees, and some happy 

 families of bluebirds were raised, until at last the 

 eats discovered them. A large number of shingles 

 may be saved when a building is reshingled, and 

 every year at the end of the season the old boxes 

 may be taken down and burned to do away with 

 vermin, gypsy moths, etc., that may be concealed 

 within. It takes but a short time to make more. 

 Tin cans and flowerpots are not quite so suitable fi«- 8_-shmgie 

 for nesting boxes as are wooden receptacles, because 

 pottery and metal are good conductors of heat, and unless put 

 up in the shade are likely, in very hot weather, to overheat 

 the young birds. Nevertheless, if such utensils are placed 

 where they will be in the shade during the hotter part of the 

 day they may be used with success (Plate III). Cheap, thin 

 boxes, such as the larger cigar boxes, may be fastened up 

 inside a barn under the eaves and a hole bored through the 

 wall of the building into each box, or a box may be made for 

 this purpose (Fig. 9). 



Many people write me anxiously asking of what size nest- 

 ing 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 



