tools, and add to the list from time to time, whatever is found to 

 be needed, than purchase at the outset an expensive outfit, many 

 tools of which may prove later to be of no special value. 



Where the nesting-boxes shall be placed is the next proposi- 

 tion. When the box is to be fastened to a tree, one should be 

 chosen that stands in the open, along the borders of country high- 

 ways, edges of woodland, or open spots in the forest. Birds do 

 not like the dense cover of the forest, especially those nesting in 

 holes in trees or bird houses. 



A light pole, twelve or fifteen feet in length, may have a bird 

 house fastened to its top, and this pole may then be bolted to a 

 post in the fence inclosing your garden, meadow or orchard. By 

 placing bird houses in this manner at intervals of two hundred 

 feet along the line of fence, Bluebirds and Tree Swallows may 

 thus be colonized, and a multitude of insects injurious to both 

 fruit and foliage will be destroyed by these birds in the imme- 

 diate vicinity. At the end of the season poles and boxes may be 

 taken down, cleaned and stored away until the following spring. 

 In the country these poles are to be had for the labor of cutting. 

 Bluebirds, Wrens and Tree Swallows are the only species that 

 readily occupy houses that are placed on barns and other farm 

 buildings. The height above ground at which the various houses 

 should be placed is given in the chapter entitled "Birds That We 

 Should Encourage to Nest About Our Country Homes." A good 

 rule to follow is to place a bird house not less than eight feet above 

 the ground or more than twenty. 



Nesting- boxes should not be placed too near one another. Birds 

 are fickle in making a choice of apartments, and will quarrel about 

 them. Two hundred feet is about the right distance that each box 

 should be from its neighbor. The beginner, in his enthusiasm, is 

 quite apt to put up too many nesting-boxes the first season. Better 

 put out a few the first season, and, if results are favorable, in- 

 crease the number the next year. Where the nesting-box is placed 

 in the open, the entrance should face the South or West. Boxes 

 facing the North or East are exposed to cold, driving rainstorms, 

 that are likely to occur at any time during the nesting season, and 

 which are fatal to both eggs and young. 

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