22 



paint run into the entrances, and to paint only up to the edge 



of each. 



Mr. Arthur W. Brockway of Hadlyme, Connecticut, has 



estabHshed a large colony of martins by building small cottages 



out of grocery boxes. (See Fig. 29.) 



Mr. Jacobs asserts that a martin house should have only 



entrance ventilation, but Mr. Dodson of Chicago makes the attic 

 of his martin house so that it may be entered 

 from either end, and claims that the martins in- 

 variably occupy these upper rooms first. I have 

 noted that when cold storms destroy young 

 martins, those on the sides of the house, exposed 

 to the cold winds, die first. 



Mr. William A. Sayward of Allston, Massa- 

 chusetts, has invented an ingenious device to 

 turn the openings of the house away from strong 

 winds and rain. (Figs. 30, 31 and 32.) 



He takes a piece of Ij inch iron pipe, 7 feet 

 long, and sets it into a cylindrical piece of cement, 

 made by filling with cement a funnel or stove 

 pipe 7 inches in diameter and 30 inches in 

 length. This cement is set into the earth so 

 that the top of the cement is level with the 

 surface of the earth. x4t the top of the 7-foot 

 pipe a reducing coupling is put on, and another 

 piece of inch pipe about 8 feet in length is added. 

 Upon this a bird house of two compartments 

 is mounted. The floor dimensions are 11 by 

 16 inches inside. The construction is illustrated 

 in Figs. 30, 31 and 32. A block is driven inside 

 the top of the pipe and a slide caster is fastened 

 to the top of the block. Another one, inverted, 



is driven into a block in the top of the house, so that the whole 



house easily revolves on the two slide casters. 



Poles may be made of wood or metal A two-inch galvanized 



or painted iron pipe will hold a small martin house and will be 



cat proof and snake proof, but rats or squirrels might climb it. 



Nevertheless, if the house is large enough they cannot go beyond 



the floor unless brackets, which should never be used, are pro- 



fi^^vjs 



f^/.- 



Fig. 30. — Sayward 

 house. 



