CHAPTER XIX 



NESTING-BOXES 



THE kind of protection discussed in the previous 

 chapters has been chiefly of a negative character, 

 in which the purpose is to stop the unnecessary 

 killing of birds and to allow them to increase by 

 natural methods. We come now to discuss a positive 

 kind of protection, which includes the negative, 

 but goes a step farther and seeks to increase the 

 number of birds by providing the conditions essen- 

 tial to bird life. The things which man can furnish 

 to meet these conditions are nesting-sites, food, and 

 water. 



Reasons for positive protection. The reasons why 

 one might desire to carry on this positive kind of 

 protection are fourfold: first, on account of the 

 pleasure that one may derive from watching the birds 

 thus brought around the home; second, on account 

 of the help which the birds will render in the de- 

 struction of injurious insects; third, on account of 

 the influence that the study of birds may have upon 

 the children in the home and the school; and fourth, 

 on account of the assistance one is giving to the con- 

 servation of valuable birds. 

 k The pleasures of bird-study are increased many 



