334 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



Alas, dear friend, that, all my days, 

 Hast poured from that syrin^.a thicket 



The quaintly discontinuous lays 

 To which I hold a season-ticket, 



A season-ticket cheaply bought 

 With a dessert of pilfered berries. 



And who so oft my soul hast caught 

 With morn and evening voluntaries. 



Lowell, N^ighti7igale i?t the Study, 



eight inches high, and houses of more than one compart- 

 ment may be made by cutting the boards in multiples of 

 these numbers. Old weathered boards should be used, 

 or, if painted, they should 

 be made the color of an old 

 tree trunk. A single open- 

 ing near the top should be 

 made, two inches in diameter 

 for most birds ; although, for 

 wrens and chickadees, one 

 inch is sufficient and will serve to keep out English sparrows, 

 and for wrens the house should be set in a shady place. 



Besides being a cheery songster and a most sprightly 

 and fascinating fellow, the wren depends for practically 

 his whole food supply upon the insects of our grounds 

 and gardens. While wrens have become scarce of late 

 years about our towns and cities, driven 

 out probably by English sparrows, a fev/ 

 of the children in Worcester have reported 

 them as occupying their bird houses. No 

 doubt, we may soon have them common 

 again if we supply sparrow-proof homes 

 and get rid of the English sparrows. 



Probably no bird possesses a higher 

 economic value than the chickadee. All 

 summer he feeds on insects and all winter 

 on the eggs which they lay on the twigs 

 and bark and around the buds of trees. Professor Forbush 

 reports finding 5500 eggs of plant lice in the crop of a 

 chickadee, this number representing what the bird had 

 gathered for a single breakfast. When heavy snow and 



