ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



propaganda by having the employees of the department make special and 

 direct appeals to the school children I think he hit the right trail. I know 

 it has done a lot of good. With a few exceptions I have found the boys 

 willing and anxious to protect our song birds, and through these lectures I 

 was able to reach the "exceptions." In a number of instances boys have 

 been induced to change their ways, and in addition thereto it has caused the 

 older shooters to be more careful about killing woodpeckers, robins, etc. 

 That possible state and federal fine makes the elders think twice before they 

 shoot. 



I might sum up by quoting the substance of a portion of an interview 

 with one school superintendent, who said : 



•'The work you are now engaged in is meritorious, and your department 

 is entitled to congratulations for manifesting an interest in our little 

 feathered friends, but I prefer to let you do the talking to the pupils. We'll 

 arrange to give you time in each room. I believe that a short talk by you 

 will have a much better effect than a long one by me, because you are an 

 official and will not make any mistakes, especially on the law end of it. 

 The subject is a verv important one, and more attention should be given 

 it." 



H. C. Norcross, Carlyle, 111. 



Nesting Boxes and Nesting Sites 



It is an encouraging sign of the times to find so much interest among 

 the children to protect the native bird life. Much of this is due to courses 

 of education given in schools and much more to the efforts of the junior 

 Audubon Societies. The interest is forcibly demonstrated in many spirited 

 bird house contests, in which the zeal and patience displayed in making 

 attractive bird dwellings is truly inspiring. 



In looking over a bird house exhibit, as spectator or judge, the im- 

 pression has ever prevailed that somehow the instructors had given full 

 rein to the fancy of the individual to build according to his artistic tem- 

 perament. In consequence among many practical boxes there are found 

 perfect imitations of bungalows, complete in every detail with doors and 

 windows, lapped siding, shingled roof and a chimney, intended to house 

 a family of bluebirds. Now bluebirds have been known to occupy such 

 a building successfully where nothing else offered, but a smaller and sim- 

 pler nesting box would have proven more satisfactory and safer for the 

 purpose on hand. The greatest criticism centers on houses too large and 

 too deep for any purpose, with openings that would with equal comfort 

 admit a wren, a squirrel or a cat. Other conspicuous designs noted repre- 

 sent straw-covered tepees, chickadee apartment houses, triangular and py- 

 ramidal structures for wrens, batteries of pendent logs, graduated for one, 

 two or three apartments, Dutch windmills, covered strawhats. tin crescents, 

 flower pots, vinegar jugs and tin cans, plain and ornamental. 



The spirit which prompts this lavish outlay of time and material is 

 commendable, but the same amount of labor and material would produce 

 twice as many nesting boxes if the efforts w r ere directed along practical 

 lines. The absence of suitable nesting sites has induced many birds to 

 accept the substitutes offered by man ; a fact greatly instrumental in in- 

 creasing our bird population. The success met with in the initial attempts 



