144 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



lovable bird has, however, very decided tastes in architecture ; 

 his house must be " just so," and, by the bye, it should be 

 completed before his arrival, early in March. In shape it 

 should be long and deep, the interior suggesting the hollow 

 of a tree. Knowing this, any young architect can suit him to 

 perfection by cutting a section of some fallen log or limb and 

 nailing to this two small boards, top and bottom, one for a 

 piazza and the other for a roof. 



Again, in many localities martins will readily make them- 

 selves at home ; they become great favorites on account of 

 their grace and their entertaining habits. Most of their food 

 they get on the wing. They are accustomed to live together 

 in larger colonies than birds of less powerful flight, and so 

 they need a spacious residence. Being so conspicuous, this 

 needs special protection ; a galvanized iron pipe has been 

 found to make an excellent standard on which to set it, the 

 house thus being completely insulated from four-footed visitors. 



On the whole, the best style of bird box is that which fur- 

 nishes its little tenants with the most complete shelter from 

 the sun and storm. This can be secured by cutting the door- 

 way to the bird's own measure, and also by placing it high up 

 under the projecting roof. The door-size for a chickadee, for 

 instance, is only about one inch, or at most an inch and a 

 quarter, in diameter, whereas a hole seven eighths of an inch 

 in diameter exactly fits a wren. To crows, jays, gray squirrels, 

 cats, and such raiders this house in itself would then signify 

 a polite but firm " No admittance." 



Moreover, the projecting roof serves a further purpose in 

 preventing pussy from indulging in her naughty pastime of 

 reaching in and clawing out the birds and their children. 

 Where bird boxes are nailed upon poles or trees, they may be 

 made puss-proof by means of a sort of collar of wire netting 

 which will stand out at right angles around the trunk or pole. 



