THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
149 
with which these birds could be attracted, man gladly 
puts out more nesting boxes, boxes with square bot- 
toms, usually in crude imitation of a miniature house. 
There are birds, nesting in hollow limbs, which prefer 
to build their nests of soft material, straws and fibres, 
woodlands and forest, together with the scrupulous 
mandates of civilization to tidy up, unconsciously and 
efifectively deprived them of safe nesting sites. The 
towhee, catbird, thrushes, brown thrashers, grosbeak, 
tanasjer, and others must build in brushwood, under- 
m-£i. 
The hiiiidiiiadr I'<>ii Bcrlcfisch box is 
exceptionally zcell adapted for nest 
photography. The chieadees nest shows 
a natural eonfonniiy to an ancient 
custom. 
These six little chieadees permitted of a 
degree of familiarity attained by an 
absence of fear, possible only ivhere vio- 
lence is unnecessary to gain an entrance 
into their sanctuarv. 
The shelling box and its popularity is 
attested by its occupant, a robin. Note 
the ivhite straws in the nest, lemonade 
straivs, picked up around the park, show- 
ing the trend in bird architecture. 
which found those homematle Ijoxes admirably adapted 
for their use. Among these are noted the martins, 
tree swallows, chickadees, wrens and bluebirds. Wood- 
peckers, on the other hand, build no nests, a small hand- 
ful of sawdust composing the nesting material ; conse- 
quently these flat bottomed afifairs were unsuitable. The 
birds were unable to hold together and hatch success- 
fully the rolling eggs. 
growth and tangle and trees, and their existence de- 
pended on the presence of shrub and tree growth. And 
these deficiencies in a measure could be supplied by 
sheltering screens and piled up brushwood, piled up in 
suitable out of the way places, little frequented and little 
disturbed. Just think of a region having become silent 
for the want of a brushpile. and then think of the same 
region enriched by the incomparable song of the brown 
Four ycar.^ pruning zi'ill produce 
crotches for many birds, that will prove 
to he absolutely safe sites for their nests. 
The sa)ne crotch a fczv months later, 
illustrating the desirability of the site. 
Note the sitting robin below the cross. 
The elements of nine months have 
scarcely changed its original form, so 
securely has it been anchored. 
There were other birds afifected by the spread of 
civilization, which foinid sufficient food in the changed 
aspect of the country, but they found no suitable sites 
where thev could build their nests. The vanishing of 
thrasher, simply because of the presence of a brush pile. 
^^'"hiIe the bird population is vanishing, with the dis- 
appearing" woodlands, it makes necessary provisions to 
offer them a substitute. Here in the city of Rockford we 
