I



259



THE


Hvtcultural /Hbagasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICU LTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. II. — NO. 9 .—dtl rights reserved. JULY, 1904.


NESTING BOXES FOR WILD BIRDS.


By E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


A very charming, and in my opinion successful, form of

aviculture, may be practised by almost anyone, provided he

does not live in the heart of a town, by placing suitable and

convenient nesting boxes for our hole - breeding birds, and

choosing sites that are likely to be suitable to the species of

bird that it is desirable to attract.


No doubt various shapes and makes of boxes are suitable,

and I have seen some very nice boxes made in Germany from

hollowed out birch trunks, with moveable lids and perches

outside the hole ; but the boxes we use, and which are almost

always occupied year after year, are made by our own carpenter

out of f-inch oak plank for small birds, and i-inch plank for

large birds. Those for small birds are usually five to six inches

square inside, eight to nine inches deep, with a lid fastened by a

leather hinge, the lid sloping and slightly projecting over the

hole, which should be near the top of the box, at the side or in

front; it does not matter which. The hole should be round and

ijin. to i£in. diameter. And I find an admirable way to attract

Tits, Nuthatches, Wrynecks, etc., is to nail a piece of stout bark

across the hole, so as to make the opening too small for any bird ;

and then the incoming tenant chips the bark away to the size

required. This has the effect of keeping out House Sparrows ;

but boxes placed low and away from houses and out-buildings,

are not much troubled by these “undesirables.” Almost any



