168 American Birds 



establish the closest relations with his feathered visitors. 

 Accustom them to your presence gradually, and do not 

 make sudden movements, and the birds will learn not to 

 be afraid. Later you may even have the birds come at 

 call or take a bit from your hand. Such a bird friend- 

 ship is worth working for, and such familiarity with 

 the wild birds cannot help but make a boy or giiTs life 

 better. 



In the side of our tank house we bored two holes 

 about four feet apart and nailed up boxes on the inside. 

 One of these was soon taken by a bluebird. The female 

 went in and looked the box through, and in a moment 

 came out and perched on the wire while the male took a 

 look. The next day the female began carrying straws. 

 She had a devoted husband, but he was merely an attend- 

 ant when it came to work. He watched and applauded, 

 but he didn't help build. I don't know but that he was 

 too lazy; or maybe he didn't know how, or the wife didn't 

 want him bothering while she was building to suit herself. 

 It looked to me as if he were ornamental without being 

 useful. But after watching awhile, it seemed that it was 

 her duty to build and his to watch and encourage. When 

 she carried in the material and fixed it, she popped out 

 of the hole and waited while he went in to look, and then 

 out he would come with words of praise, and away they 

 would fly together. 



I had a splendid arrangement to watch the builders at 

 close quarters. I could go in the tank house and close 

 the door, and then in the darkness I could look through 

 a crack in the box, and with my eye less than a foot away 

 could watch every movement the birds made. While the 



