388 ‘USEFUL BIRDS. 
bridge, barn, shed, or unoccupied house. It will occupy 
almost any shed, barn, or barn cellar near a pond or stream, 
but its nest is sometimes broken down for lack of a proper 
support. A box like that in Fig. 164 will be acceptable to 
the Phebe if nailed up to the plate or rafters of a low shed. 
If the shed is closed, an opening 
Sas. Aw Sd | should always be left for the birds. 
ae An open window, with a few bars 
across it to keep out cats and human 
intruders, is all that is necessary. 
Pheebes sometimes build on a shelf 
under projecting eaves. They par- 
ticularly like a rough stone build- 
ing. Robins will often build in rough boxes or trays, or on 
shelves put up under eaves or piazzas, in arbors or even in 
buildings.” 
Having provided nesting places for all the birds that may 
be induced to nest within our buildings, we may next turn 
our attention to making nesting boxes. 
Fig. 164.— Pheebe’s nest in box. 
Bird Houses and Nesting Boxes. 
Since the use of the axe and saw in woodland and orchard 
has deprived many birds of their natural nesting places in 
hollow trees or limbs, there is no better way of providing for 
au increase of the numbers of such birds than by furnishing 
them with artificial building sites. Bluebirds found drowned 
in cisterns, Owls, Flickers, and Wood Ducks found dead in 
the stove pipes of unoccupied buildings, all show the straits 
to which birds are now driven in the search for a nesting site. 
All apertures that lead to such death-traps should be closed, 
and a plentiful supply of artificial breeding places should be 
provided. 
What more interesting occupation can there be for the 
children on the farm than that of preparing nesting boxes 
for the birds? This is the surest way of increasing the 
summer bird population, for birds do not lack food in sum- 
mer so much as safe nesting places in which to rear their 
young. 
Unfortunately, however, a great obstacle to success with. 
