212 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



hatch and chickadee, bluebird, flicker, screech owl, and wood 

 duck, or species of corresponding sizes. The price for the 

 present will probably average around one dollar, or a little 

 more. 



Von Berlepsch Model Not Essential. As experiments 

 with nest-boxes in America progress, we are meeting with 

 some surprises and having to revise somewhat our previous 

 conceptions. The Von Berlepsch theory of the woodpecker 

 model for nesting-boxes is being found not to be by any 

 means of universal application in America. Perhaps the 

 American birds are bristling with the spirit of independence, 

 and refuse to follow precedent. At any rate they do not act 

 just as the esteemed Baron finds that his birds do at See- 

 bach. We are finding that our birds are quite indiscrim- 

 inate, within certain limits, in the house-models which they 

 will accept, and that there are fewer species here than in 

 Europe which have yet learned to utihze these devices. It 

 is certainly beyond question that bluebirds and house wrens 

 will occupy practically any convenient model. Chickadees 

 like the log-boxes, but they occupy other models appar- 

 ently just as well. Woodpeckers ought to like log-boxes 

 made in exact imitation of the apartments of their own 

 manufacture, but how is it in fact? Most kinds in America 

 still prefer their own workmanship. The flicker is the 

 only woodpecker that uses boxes at all frequently, yet it 

 often uses deep upright boxes made of boards, with 

 the hole near the top. The purple martin prefers a com- 

 partment house, being gregarious, and the tree swallow 

 will use a starch box as readily as a hollow log. 



After all, if we want to attract birds, we must give them 

 what they want, not what we think they ought to prefer. 

 What we need now is a great mass of detailed data and 

 experiments on these problems. E. H. Forbush and Wil- 



