annoyed the birds, so I was afraid they might leave. I then took down the box 

 and moved it to a more quiet place The birds watched the proceedings, and one 

 of the pair entered the box less than one minute after it was fastened in the new 

 position. The other box I nailed to a tree on a small island in the Red River. 

 In due time I collected a fresh five set from each box. Later in the season I took 

 from one of the boxes two sets of the Purple Martin, the two nests being in the 

 same compartment, but in different corners of the box; and both were collected 

 at the same time. 



In August, 1917, I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I met here a fellow 

 collector, who after 13 years of bird-nesting had not succeeded in collecting 

 even one set of a bird as common as the Gray Titmouse. In the Spring of 1918, 

 I made a few boxes and placed these in the pinyon pines three to four feet from 

 the ground. Within a month I had four sets of the Gray Titmouse in my collec- 

 tion, and supplied my friend with two, all taken from these nesting boxes. I 

 also set up boxes for the Desert Sparrow Hawk with success. The Mountain 

 Bluebird, also, is a very abundant tenant in mv boxes. This spring (1920) I 

 took a set of six fresh eggs of the Chestnut-backed Bluebird from a box in the 

 Santa Fe Canyon, at an altitude of 8,500 feet above sea level. It should be easy 

 to have the Red-shafted Flicker follow the example of the Northern Flicker. 



Here is one instance whe e a box brought me a new set. Last spring while 

 examining some Bluebird boxes placed in the pinyons, I found in one of these 

 boxes a nest with four fresh eggs of the Ash-throated Flycatcher. I left the eggs 

 a few days, hoping to get a larger set, but when I came back to collect I found 

 the female incubating the four eggs. As there are no trees with holes or cavities 

 suitable for nesting places for miles around, and as this species of Flycatcher is 

 so rare here that the incubating female is the only bird of the kind I have seen 

 in three years, I fully believe, that the placing of this particular box is responsible 

 for a new set in my collection. 



If one is placing two boxes of the same size and shape in the same locality, 

 it is possible to attract different species of birds by placing the boxes in different 

 positions. A Tree Swallow and a Violet-green Swallow prefer boxes placed in 

 plain sight on the trunk of a tree or a pole, whereas the Gray Titmouse and 

 Chickadee are very willing to use a box well hidden among the branches and 

 leaves of a tree or bush. 



I fear it would extend this article too far to go into details as to the sizes 

 and shapes in which to make the boxes, and as to the different positions in which 

 to place them to get the best results — moreover this might vary somewhat in 

 different parts of the country — still I shall mention a few. 



A box eight inches square and ten or twelve inches deep with an entrance 

 hole near the top three and a half or four inches in diameter will do very well for 

 a Sparrow Hawk. A box five inches square and about twelve inches deep with 

 an opening two and a half or three inches in diameter and near the top will ac- 

 commodate a Flicker. As neither Flickers nor Sparrow Hawks use any nesting- 

 material, it is advisable to cover the bottom of the boxes with coarse sawdust to 

 the depth of an inch or so. A box four inches square and eight inches deep with 

 entrance hole an inch and a half in diameter will accommodate our different 

 species of Bluebirds; also the Ash-throated Flycatcher. The same size box with 

 a smaller opening, say about one inch in diameter, will please a Gray Titmouse, 

 a Chickadee, or any of its kindred. Swallows and Martins prefer a lower box 

 with entrance hole near the bottom. The Crested Flycatcher usually nests in a 

 broken-off hollow limb; therefore, I make the boxes for this bird in imitation of 

 a hollow limb. Such a box should be, say, two feet long, four inches square, open 

 at one end, and fastened along a horizontal sa wed-off limb. 



I usually leave the cover-top of the boxes fastened very lightly — three or 

 four small nails — so it can easily be lifted off and put back in place again, thus 

 giving a convenient opportunity to examine the contents of the box. Very often 

 I have destroyed a good set of eggs in a cavity by cutting into it too early or too 

 late. This mistake can be entirely eliminated by using boxes and by examining 

 them every two or three weeks. 



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