AT WORK AND PLAY 215 



On my twelve acre farm at Ipswich I have 

 had fifteen pairs building in boxes in one season. 

 One of these boxes, which has been occupied each 

 year for over twenty years, violates most of the 

 rules laid down in modern books for the building 

 of bird-houses. It is advised, and with good 

 reason, that paint should not be used, that the 

 opening should be no larger than the bird's body, 

 that it should be circular, several inches above 

 the bottom of the box and that the nesting mate- 

 rial be removed at the end of every season. Now 

 this favored house of mine is painted red with 

 black windows and green blinds, has a large rec- 

 tangular opening on a level with the floor, and, 

 being on the top of a pole, is never cleaned out. 

 This only goes to show that the tree swallow is 

 an adaptive bird. My experience demonstrates 

 that square wooden boxes are just as popular as 

 the most carefully made and expensive von 

 Berlepsch boxes, which may be heresy. 



The barn swallow formerly built its mud and 

 straw nests in rocky caves. Swallow Cave at 

 Nahant is an instance, but as far as I know no 

 barn swallow has been found within fifty years 



