426 APPENDIX. 



prove more acceptable to other birds than bird houses made after 

 the usual pattern. The results of his experiment confirmed his 

 judgment. 



The accompanying illustration (Plate LVII) shows a longi- 

 tudinal section of a Woodpecker's hole (Fig. 4) and a similar view 

 of a nesting box made in imitation of it (Fig. 5). Such duplications 

 of the natural domiciles of Woodpeckers have proved so accept- 

 able to birds in Germany that Woodpeckers have used them. The 

 entrance hole slopes downward toward the outside, like that of 

 the Woodpecker's hole, so that rain is not likely to drive in, and 

 the box is put up so that it leans forward a little, as an additional 

 precaution against the entrance of rain. Each domicile is provided 

 with a removable cover. Many of these boxes have been imported 

 into America and they have been used here with some success; 

 also, several Americans have undertaken to manufacture them. 



Plates LVIII and LIX show some of those manufactured in this 

 country. In America, however, these boxes have not been so suc- 

 cessful thus far as in Europe. Mr. Wm. H. Browning wrote me 

 that he had more than one hundred and fifty on his estate on Long 

 Island, and that most of them were occupied; but later inquiry 

 showed that a large proportion of the birds using them were House 

 Sparrows and Starlings (introduced European species), which are 

 now numerous in his vicinity. 



Heisemann gives some directions for placing nesting boxes which 

 are not applicable to this country. He recommends that the two 

 smaller sizes be fixed from six to thirteen feet from the ground, on 

 trees, props, walls, etc., in orchards, woods and plantations. Nest- 

 ing boxes placed in New England woods are not often occupied 

 by birds unless they are put up near the open, but those placed in 

 woods are used sometimes by Chickadees. 



Openings in forested lands may be utilized, but most of the 

 birds that breed in nesting boxes in this country prefer those placed 

 in orchards, or on buildings, shade trees or poles in open fields. 



The von Berlepsch nesting boxes have been so successful in 

 Europe that State governments have taken up their use. Nine 

 thousand three hundred boxes were put up by the government in 

 the State woods of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Seventy-eight 

 per cent, of these were used the first year, and all have been 

 inhabited since. 



In Austria-Hungary these boxes are manufactured in special 

 factories under State management. The practical utility of these 

 bird boxes in Germany may be illustrated by the following. 



