NESTING BOXES, ETC. 59 



and deep, have an easily-fitting lid and in the 

 front end a small round hole is cut. Boxes for the 

 larger birds are proportionally bigger. The birds 

 take very kindly to these artificial nests and the 

 great majority of the boxes are annually used. If 

 the lid be loose or the hole too large the box is 

 avoided ; the birds seem to know that the small 

 entrance is a protection against enemies. Four 

 different sorts of Tomtits — the Great, Blue, Marsh 

 and Cole — Redstarts, Blackcaps (?), an occasional 

 Nuthatch, the inevitable and ubiquitous Sparrow, 

 and one or two casual visitors are thankful for the 

 ■accommodation provided. 



" Some pairs come, I think, year after year to the 

 same box or rather to the same tree, for the boxes 

 are shifted about. We provide nothing but the 

 bare boxes, for we found if we supplied any nest- 

 making materials that the birds cleared it all away 

 •as useless before beginning their nests. 



" Some birds, the Great Tit for instance, will 

 allow one to lift the lid and watch it sitting on its 

 eggs; its eye is kept sternly fixed on the intruder, 

 while it often uses very strong language to express 

 its disgust at being disturbed, and if it sees a finger 

 being approached it is off in an instant. Other 

 birds fly out of the box if they hear, even at a 



