64 



Bird - Lore 



NESTING MATERIAL 



No nesting material in the form of straws, feathers, or sticks should be 

 placed in the box, though if they are placed abundantly in the vicinity they 

 may encourage nesting. If a prospective tenant find nesting material in the box, 

 he will usually consider it already occupied and move on. In Flicker and other 

 Woodpecker boxes, however, there should be placed in the bottom a couple of 

 inches of ground cork or coarse sawdust, mixed with a little earth, because the 

 Woodpeckers build no nests and must 

 have something to keep the eggs from 

 rolling about. A layer of sawdust will 

 do no harm in any other box but is not 

 necessary. 



A PROPERLY PLACED FLICKER-BOX 



The branches have been cut away from around it 



Photographed by L. A. Hausman 



AN ORNAMENTAL MARTIN-HOUSE 



Martin-houses should be on poles at least 17 feet 



high and away from trees 



PLACING THE BOX 



Quite as important as the proper construction of the bird-house is the selec- 

 tion of the place to put it. It is possible to put up ten or fifteen boxes and have 

 nothing but House Sparrows nesting in them, but, if properly placed, they 

 would be occupied by Wrens, Chickadees, Swallows, or Bluebirds. If several 

 boxes are put up, they should be at least 25 feet apart and, preferably, farther, 

 or constant fighting will usually result until one of the tenants is evicted. If 



