12 
OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 250 
are persistent in their efforts to appropriate these houses. As a 
protection from cats and squirrels, encircle the pole at a height of 
three or four feet from the ground with a strip of tin about two feet 
in width. Woodpeckers can be induced to build in structures made 
from sections of branches in imitation of their own excavated cavi¬ 
ties. They should be made exact in every particular, especially as 
to the size of the entrance. The section should be sawed lengthwise 
through the middle and after the cavity has been worked out, the 
two halves should be fastened together again. 
Bird-lore has printed many articles on the building of nesting 
boxes. The following numbers contain a few of the best: Yol. 10, 
No. 3 (1908); Vol. 11, No. 2, (1909); Vol. 12, Nos. 3, 5 and 6 (1910); 
and Vol. 13, No. 2 (1911). 
The greatest stimulus that can be given to bird protection is 
through the proper training of the school children. The true value 
of birds, impressed upon the minds and hearts of the young, will ac¬ 
complish more than legislation. 
DRINKING FOUNTAINS AND BATHS 
Water is a necessity, especially in summer, and if running water 
is not easily obtained, a bath or drinking fountain should be erected 
in a quiet, shaded place, protected against cats. A rusty basin in 
which a flat stone is placed, leaving one edge against the side and the 
other resting on the bottom, so that the depth of the water will vary 
from one-half to not more than two inches, makes a very satisfactory 
bath. If running water can be had, it is better, as it insures a 
constant and fresh supply. Where this is not possible, the water 
should be changed once a day. 
PROTECTION FROM ENEMIES 
The numerous enemies of birds keep them ever on their guard, 
and in spite of their vigilance, they usually come to a tragic end. Of 
our four-footed animals, the cat is the arch enemy of birds. Mr. 
John Burroughs says that cats probably destroy more birds than all 
other animals combined. More young chickens are killed by cats 
than by hawks and wild mammals. Birds and poultry are preferred 
to rats and mice, and once the habit is acquired, death alone will 
break it. Many farms harbor half-wild, self-supporting cats that 
live largely upon birds and poultry. Prof. E. H. Forbush has esti¬ 
mated that the average cat, in Massachusetts, will kill ten useful 
birds per year and that each farm supports a cat. Upon the same 
basis, Ohio’s rural cat census is 276,719. Allowing each cat its quota 
of ten, 2,767,190 birds are sacrificed annually; a large number, but 
an estimate easily within the bounds of belief, for this does not take 
