462 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII, 
readily adopted is the one that most closely resembles the natural nesting 
site of the bird. There are certain species which are in no way particular as 
to the site or the architecture of their dwellings, in this connection one need 
hardly mention the ubiquitous sparrow who can almost be considered as an 
enemy of the enterprise. Crows and tree-pies, and other birds of ill repute 
with egg robbing proclivities, must also be included in the category. Among 
the birds which naturally nest in cavities such as one afforded by nest boxes 
we might mention Tits, Nuthatches, Tree Creepers, Mynahs, Grackles, Bush 
Robins, Magpie Robins, The Large Pied Wagtail, Woodpeckers, Barbets, Rol- 
lers, Paroquets, Owls and Owlets. 
The bulletin of the National Association of Audubon Sccieties for March 1914 
contains a very interesting series of papers on the subject of attracting birds 
about the home. Among the various subjects treated is an article by Beecher 
8. Bowdish on the subject of putting up bird boxes. Mr. Bowdish gives some 
very valuable advice on the making of bird-boxes and his article is illustrated 
by a series of diagrams which we have taken the liberty of reproducing (they 
were originally issued by the College of Agriculture, Cornell University) in the 
hope that members will find them useful in designing nesting boxes. In the 
course of his remarks on the preparation of these boxes Mr. Bowdish says :— 
“The most natural bird homes, and such as may often be provided 
with the least trouble, are pieces of hollow limbs or small hollow trunks of 
trees, or the old nesting holes of woodpeckers. If no limbs with suitable 
cavities are found, they may be made by taking a piece of limb, about 
8 inches in diameter and fourteen to sixteen inches long, dividing it in 
half, with a rip saw, from one end to within about three inches of the 
other, where it is met by a right-angle cut from the side. At this point 
an entrance hole is made through the shorter or front half. The two 
halves are then hollowed out so as to form a cylindrica] cavity about 
three and one and-a-half inches in diameter and 10 inches deep, when the 
two halves are placed together and wired. Such a bird home is shown in 
one of the illustrations ; and it has this advantage, that if a young bird 
dies, or the home becomes obstructed in any way beyond the remedying 
of the tenants, the Landlord may open it and rectify the trouble. A perch 
is provided just below the entrance by way of a front porch. A similar 
bird home is made by boring an auger hole from one end of a piece of 
limb to within a couple of inches of the other, plugging the bored end, and 
making an entrance hole near the other end........ A piece of the wooden 
tubing from a chain-pump, with ends plugged, and an entrance made in 
the side near the upper end, the tube being covered with bark, makes a 
very good substitute for a hollow limb. Even a long, narrow box, made up 
in about the same manner and covered with bark, answers very well. If 
old and weather stained boards are used, the bark covering is not absolute- 
ly necessary, but it adds to the attractiveness, from both the birds and 
the human standpoint. 
Another method of making artificial hollow limbs, which has been des- 
cribed, is to .cut limbs of the proper diameter, according to the tenant 
for whom they are intended ; saw them in sections of proper length ; make 
an incision through the bark on ene side from one end to the other, on the 
opposite side bore a hole through the bark for an entrance, then with a 
wooden wedge carefully separate the bark from the limb until it is entirely 
free. Sections of the limb an inch and-a-half in length are sawed off and 
nailed into the ends of the bark, and over the slit in the back a strip of 
branch or wood is nailed, which in turn is nailed to the tree or other 
suppert where this domicile is to rest. Small drainage holes to allow the 
water to escape from the bottom of any artificial nesting-limbs or boxes, 
in case rain should drive in, and sloping and projecting tops to shed rain, 
