NEST BOXES FOR BIRDS. 463 
are important in all cases. Pieces of limb, natural or artificial, may be 
wired to the trunk or branches of a shade tree, or fastened on top of a 
post, which may be covered with growing vines, but care must be taken 
to guard against the raid of cats and squirrels. A piece of tin fastened 
around the trunk of the tree or the post which bears the bird box, in the 
shape of an inverted funnel, is sometimes used to prevent cats gaining 
access to the nest, and when the box is on a post a strip of heavy square- 
mesh poultry-wire may be placed on the top of the post, under the box. 
On the grounds belonging to a neighbour of the writer, in a woodbine 
growing on a post, directly under the wire guard and box, a Song Sparrow 
built her nest and reared her brood. 
Dried gourds, hollowed out, with an opening made for an entrance, 
hung in a tree, often attract Wrens and sometimes Bluebirds. In fact, 
Wrens wil! utilize old tin cans or almost any sort of receptacle. The 
writer saw one nest built in an old elbow of conductor-pipe that hung in 
an unused chicken-house, and another on the ashes in a barrel ash-sifter. 
To utilize an old tomato-can, the flap which has been almost severed 
from the box in removing the fruit has a small hole cut out by making two 
slits about an inch apart and the same length, bending up the piece between 
the cuts. The rough edges around the entrance of any tin nesting recep- 
tacle should always be bent over to prevent birds being injured by them. 
Such a nesting box is either tacked to a piece of board, which is in turn 
fastened up on the side of a building or the trunk of a tree, or it may be 
fastened directly to the building or tree by two nails driven obliquely 
through the end from the sides. An old funnel, with the large end nailed 
against the side of a building or the trunk of a tree, makes another readily 
provided nesting place. Coffee-pots, tea-kettles, milk cans, lard-pails and 
flower pots are among the discarded utensils which may be fastened up 
in suitable places for the use of the birds as nesting sites.” 7 
The selection of a suitable position for the nest boxes is a question which 
must be governed by the nesting habits of the species it is desired to attract. 
Birds though extremely versatile in the selection of a nesting site instinctively 
follow nesting habits typical of their species. Certain species will commonly 
select the roofs and rafters and eaves of buildings, others use ledges, holes or 
crevices in the walls. Some nest on the ground and others only in trees or 
bushes, using either the trunk or the branches. The very height at which the nest 
is placed varies with different species ; The Scaly-bellied Wood Pecker (G. squa- 
matus) is said to usually build its nest at a height 40 to 50’ from the ground, while 
the Black-naped species is said to be content with a much lower elevation. 
Certain Woodpeckers and Parroquets excavate holes for themselves, while 
others have no objection to adopting natural cavities either in the trunk 
or in the horizontal branches. The Coppersmith or Crimson-breasted Barbet 
X. hematocephala either nests in an old cavity or excavates a nest in a decayed 
branch ; the entrance to the nest is generally on the underside of the bough and 
the depth of the nest varies from one to four feet. With the Woodpeckers, 
certain species are said to have a preference for some particular kind of tree. 
The Himalayan Pied Woodpecker is said to prefer the Oak, the Scaly-bellied 
and Black-naped species favour the rhododendron; while the Little Yellow 
Fronted Woodpecker (L. mahrattensis) which breeds throughout the Indian plains, 
shows no attachment to any particular tree, its nest being found in a dozen 
different kinds. Many species of birds are however not at all capricious as regards 
the height or the position of the nest. The Brown-backed Indian Robin builds 
at any height from 20 feet to the level of the ground. As regards a nesting 
site, the fork of a tree, the hollow of a broken stump, a hole in the trunk, in 
a wall, on the ground or in the thatch of a roof are all equally acceptable. It 
s recorded of one optimistic couple that they successfully reared a brood in the 
t 
