28 METHODS OF ATTRACTING BIRDS 



chickadee may finish the excavation and build a 

 nest there. Mr. Reed states that one summer four 

 pairs of chickadees found the locations selected 

 by him satisfactory and reared their families. 



In the Eastern States the black-capped chicka- 

 dee nests occasionally in boxes, but is not a com- 

 mon occupant. On the Pacific coast the Oregon 

 chickadee uses boxes, and from the reports re- 

 ceived, apparently more commonly than the 

 black-capped does in the East. 



Carolina Chickadee. — The only reference 

 the author finds to this bird is in " Bird-Lore," 

 by Mr. Robert Ridgway of the National Museum, 

 who writes : " Each spring a pair of Carolina 

 chickadees build their nest in one of our bird- 

 houses, and have begun incubation by the time 

 the house wrens arrive, but that is as far as the 

 poor chickadees ever get, for the wrens immedi- 

 ately oust them and destroy their eggs." 



Wood Duck. — This beautiful bird is rapidly 

 decreasing and seems in a fair way to extinction, 

 unless some very unusual efforts are made in its 

 behalf. It nests in a hole in a tree or stump, and 

 has been known to nest in houses provided for it. 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher, of the Bureau of Biological 

 Survey, writes: "Almost any box or keg of 



