54 



vision board with a circular opening seven and one-half inches 

 in diameter is placed across the box twelve inches from the 

 back end and fifteen inches from the front end. The back 

 section is the nest proper. Instead of a closed door at the en- 

 trance, a light frame of inch by inch and a half stuff is covered 

 with wire netting of one-inch mesh. The door is ten and 

 one-half inches wide and ten inches high and does not fill the 

 entire entrance, a space of two and a half inches being left at 

 the bottom and one and a half inches at the top, with a good 

 margin at each side to avoid friction. If it filled the entire 

 space it would be clumsy in its action. It is hinged at the 

 top and opens up into the box. The hinges are placed on the 

 front of th'e door rather than at the center or back, the better 

 to secure complete closing action. 



"The trip consists of one piece of stiff wire about three-six- 

 teenths of an inch in diameter and eighteen and one-half inches 

 long, bent as shown in drawing. A piece of board six inches 



II in. 

 Trip Wire. 



in. . 



rfl 



wide and just long enough to reach across the box inside is 

 nailed flatwise in front of the partition and one inch below 

 the top of the box, a space of one-fourth of an inch being left 

 between the edge of the board and the partition. The purpose 

 of this board is only to support the trip wire in place. The six- 

 inch section of the trip wire is placed across the board and the 

 long part of the wire slipped through the quarter-inch slot, 

 and passed down close to and in front of the center of the 

 seven and a half inch circular opening. Small wire staples are 

 driven nearly down over the six-inch section of the trip wire 

 into the board so as to hold it in place and yet let it roll side- 

 wise easily. 



"When the door is set, the half-inch section of the wire 

 marked A comes under a hardwood peg or tack with a large 

 round head, which is driven into the lower edge of the door 

 frame. The hen passes in through the circular opening and in 

 doing so presses the wire to one side, and the trip slips from its 



