AIDS TO NESTING 227 



"At the larger place I have put up twenty-four boxes 

 of the Von Berlepsch model and of German manufacture. 

 These have been in place several years, and on the average 

 between five and six have been used by birds, mostly tree 

 swallows and bluebirds. Some of these boxes, however, 

 are too small in the entrance for birds larger than chicka- 

 dees. The latter have never occupied but one box, and this 

 was deserted. The last two years one of the boxes has been 

 occupied by flickers. It should be remarked here that the 

 use of creosote in treating the egg clusters of the gypsy 

 moth inside the boxes may have had a repellent influence 

 on the birds, since the number of these boxes used de- 

 creased after the first two years. F. H. Kennard is of 

 the opinion that creosote does discourage the use of 

 boxes. Two other types of boxes have been placed on this 

 larger area — old hollow apple limbs with flat floors, and the 

 ordinary board box. Without going into unnecessary 

 detail, I will say that about the same proportion of these 

 seem to have been occupied by birds from year to year as of 

 the Von Berlepsch boxes — that is, about one fourth. Creo- 

 sote has also been used in them. 



"Although up to last spring only the Von Berlepsch 

 boxes had been hung in part on posts, I thought I detected 

 a preference on the part of the birds for these boxes so 

 placed, and last spring I had eight new boxes of the plain 

 board type made, and placed them on the posts of a fence 

 surrounding a small made pond. These were stained on the 

 outside to a weathered colour with a mixture of drop black 

 and linseed oil. They had not been in position for an hour 

 when the birds were going in and out of them and finally 

 four of them were nested in, or 50 per cent. 



"On the eighty-acre farm where I live, I first placed 

 twelve boxes of the Von Berlepsch model made by Mr.. 



