General Scouting Indoors 189 



purple martins thus: "Cut off all the top branches 

 from a sapling, near their cabins, leaving the prongs a 

 foot or two in length, on each of which they hang a 

 gourd, or calabash properly hollowed out for their con- 

 venience." 



But the wild-wood box or hollow limb is more sightly and 

 for some birds more attractive. There are several ways of 

 using the natural limb. One is, take a seven or eight inch 

 stick of chestnut about twenty inches long, spKt four slabs 

 off it: (0) then saw off three inches of each end of the 

 "core " and nail the whole thing together again (P and Q), 

 omitting the middle part of the core. 



Another way is to split the log in half and scoop out the 

 interior of each half (L and M). When nailed together 

 again it makes a commodious chamber, about five inches 

 wide and a foot or more deep. 



Another plan is: Take a five-inch limb of green chest- 

 nut, elm, or any other tough-barked tree. Cut a piece 

 eighteen inches long, make a long bevel on one end 

 (e). Now carefully spKt the bark on one side and peel it. 

 Then saw the peeled wood into three pieces (f g h), leave 

 out g and put the bark on again. Cut a hole in the bark on 

 the longest side, at the place farthest from the beveled end 

 (x in e), and your bird nest is finished. The beveled end 

 is there to make it easily nailed up; when in place, it is as 

 at I. The front — that is, the side where the door is — 

 should always be the under one; and the door in each case 

 should be near the top. 



But these methods presuppose a fine big stick of wood. I 

 have more often found it convenient to work with scraps. 



Here is one easy way that I have long used: From a 

 four or five inch round log saw off two sections each two 

 inches thick, or failing a log, cut out two circles from a 

 two-inch plank, for top and bottom parts (like f and h); 



