BIRD HOUSES AND NATATORIUMS 233 



supplying another series of partitions, care being 

 taken that the openings alternate, no one being over 

 another. This style of house will prove very accept- 

 able to martins and birds which dwell in colonies. 



Often one has in his possession old-fashioned 

 wooden clocks which have long since ceased to be of 

 service and have been relegated to the garret. These 

 make excellent wren houses, as it is only necessary 

 to remove the works, insert partitions and supply en- 

 trances, and give a coat of weather-proof paint and 

 erect them in some convenient position under the roof 

 of the porch or on the trunk of a -tree. Once one 

 has formed the bird house habit it is surprising how 

 many things one finds adaptable. Small kegs, with a 

 thatched roof, may be suspended from the limbs of 

 a tree and one of the prettiest houses I have seen was 

 made from a candy pail with a barrel head for a bot- 

 tom and a peaked thatched roof, all erected on a 

 pole and giving house room to a number of families 

 of wrens. In putting up houses on trees it is usually 

 most convenient to drill a hole in the back, near the 

 top, and driving a spike in a tree hang the house on 

 that. This does Very well if the proximity of limbs 

 afford a little support so that there is no danger of 

 its being blown down. A more secure way is to nail 

 a strip of board to the back of the box, letting it 

 extend two or three inches beyond the box, and nail 



