39 



Box A is suitable for the great tit, blue tit, marsh-tit, coal- tit, 

 willow- tit, crested tit, nuthatch, tree-creeper, wryneck, pied fly-catcher, 

 redstart, lesser spotted woodpecker. In accordance with the wish 

 of many who are interested in the matter, and suffer greatly from the 

 plague of sparrows, a box called Al has lately been made with a narrower 

 opening 1 1-16 inch. It is designed for blue tits, marsh- tits, coal 



NESTING-BOX E. 



tits, and crested tits ; sparrows cannot enter it, but neither can 

 other birds, except the small tits, not even the great tit. 



Box B is for starlings, greater spotted woodpeckers, wrynecks, 

 nuthatches, pied fly-catchers, redstarts, 

 great tits. The last five species settle in 

 box A as well as in B. The former suffices 

 as a rule. 



Box C is for green woodpeckers ; and 

 Box D for stock-doves,* kestrels, jackdaws, 

 and owls. 



For the sake of completeness we have 

 box E for swifts, with the boring of 

 box B, and a semi-circular opening. (See 

 illustration.) 



The open box F has a diameter of about 

 4J inches, and a depth of about 2J inches. 

 It is made for such birds as redstarts, 

 spotted fly-catchers, and pied wagtails, and also for robins 



* I should like to awaken interest in pigeon preserves, such as were common 

 in Germany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when these birds afforded 

 a pleasant addition to the menu. It would be a good plan to hang a number of 

 boxes in close proximity to each other in suitable districts where the stock-dove 

 is already found. The most suitable places, it seems to me, would be preserves 

 for game where the necessary protection from interference and poaching is 

 already to be found. 



NESTING-BOX F. 



