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Photograph by Ertie?t ITarold Eaynes 

 THE BEST KIND 01? A BIRD ON A HAT 



recorded as having bred in nest boxes of 

 one sort or another : 



Wood-duck, sparrow-hawk, screech- 

 owl, flicker, red - headed woodpecker, 

 great - crested fl_vcatcher, starhng, Eng- 

 lish sparrow, house-finch, tree and violet 

 green swallow, purple martin, house- 

 wren, Parkman's wren, Bewick's wren. 

 Vigor's wren, and Texas Bewick's wren, 

 white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, 

 black-capped chickadee, Oregon chicka- 

 dee, Carolina chickadee, robin, and three 

 varieties of bluebirds — eastern, western, 

 and mountain. To this list the Carolina 

 wren ought probably to be added ; for 

 while I do not know personally of any 

 record of its actually building in a bird- 

 box, it builds about houses and in the 

 most unheard of and crazy places. 



Robins and phuebes may be encouraged 



by shehes conveniently placed beneath 

 the roofs of porches, piazzas, and sheds, 

 while the insect-eating barn and eave 

 swallows ma)' often be helped in their 

 choice of nesting sites by a supporting 

 shelf. Vines on trellises or about the 

 piazza posts are attractive nesting sites 

 for chipping sparrows, as well as robins, 

 and I once knew of a bluejay that built 

 in a wistaria \ine o\erhanging a friend's 

 front porch. 



One can never tell just what birds are 

 going to do. Crows are reported to have 

 nested in one of the squares in the city 

 of Philadelphia and on Beacon Hill in 

 Boston, while a pair of sparrow-hawks 

 have bred beneath the eaves of the Law- 

 rence Scientific School in Cambridge. 

 Mass. 



Chimney swifts should also be encour- 



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