78 Bird Day Book 



on a post a strip of heavy square-mesh poultry wire may be placed 

 on top of the post, under the box. On the grounds belonging to a 

 neighbor of the writer, in a woodbine growing on a post, directly 

 under the wire guard and box, a song sparrow built her nest and 

 reared her brood. 



Dried gourds, hollowed out, with an opening made for an en- 

 trance, hung in a tree often attract wrens and sometimes bluebirds. 

 In fact, wrens will utilize old tin cans or almost any sort of recep- 

 tacle. The writer saw one nest built in an old elbow of conductor 

 pipe that hung in an unused chicken-house, and another on the 

 ashes in a barrel ash-sifter. 



To utilize an old tomato can, the flap which has been almost 

 severed from the box in removing the fruit has a small hole cut out 

 by making two slits about an inch apart and the same length, bend- 

 ing up the piece between the cuts. The rough edges around the 

 entrance of any tin nesting receptable should always be bent over 

 to prevent birds being injured by them. Such a nesting box is 

 either tacked to a piece of board, which is in turn fastened up on 

 the side of a building or the trunk of a tree, or it may be fastened 

 directly to the building or tree by two nails driven obliquely through 

 the end from the sides. An old funnel with the large end nailed 

 against the side of a building or the trunk of a tree makes another 

 readily provided nesting place. Cofifee pots, tea kettles, milk cans, 

 lard pails and flower pots are among the discarded utensils which 

 may be fastened up in suitable places for the use of the birds as 

 nesting sites. 



Receptacles for wrens' nests may have entrance holes about the 

 size of a silver quarter dollar, large enough to admit the wren but 

 too small for the English sparrow. This bird is another enemy to 

 our native birds, and one which has done more than any other 

 agency to drive them from our grounds, utilizing for his own nest 

 the places provided for wrens and bluebirds, and quarreling with 

 and driving away even those species whose nesting habits do not in 

 any way conflict with his own. Boy and girl landlords must guard 

 against these undesirable naturalized citizens, removing their nests 

 when they start to build, and frightening the little disturbers oflf the 

 grounds. 



