BY THE WAYSIDE. 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
jj Published on the fifteenth of each month. 
I The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois Audu- 
>on Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year. Single copies, three cents. 
All communications should be sent to Miss Ruth 
Iarshall, Appleton, Wis. 
m 
With the May number The Yvayside enters 
j ipon a new volume. Under Miss Marshall's 
| ditorship each number will contain an article 
>y some bird student of Wisconsin or Illinois, 
j md a helpful paper on nature work in the 
ichools. Only ten numbers will be issued dur- 
7 
ng the year, July and August being omitted. 
_ 
I he Gordon Library, recently destroyed in 
; he High School fire at Appleton, has been par- 
t ially replaced. 
A Plea For Bird Boxes. 
The majority of birds build their nests either 
n trees or on the ground, but we have a few 
hat excavate a hole in a live or dead tree 
or their nest and also a few that build in any 
lole in a tree, bird-box, or, in fact, in any 
i revice which is a foot above the ground: and 
| hese are the birds for whose use I wish to 
sk the people who are interested in the in- 
rease of some of our most beneficial birds to 
;ail up some tin cans or cigar-boxes in their 
rchards. 
The farmers of to-day keep all their fruit 
| rees well trimmed, all dead wood cut out, and 
11 old trees, which are a paradise to House 
Wens, Bluebirds, Chickadees, Great-Crested 
'lycatchers, Purple Martins and English Spar- 
ows, are cut down and replaced by young 
j rees. Thus these birds have hard work to 
nd nesting sites, and I believe their numbers 
j re.much restricted by this cause. Take an 
verage orchard of about twenty-five trees; say 
here are five cavities suitable for nests which 
r ould be very liberal, for in many orchards 
ou could not find one. If we start with a 
air of Wrens, which average seven young to a 
est and will raise two broods a year, in one 
ear we have eight pairs of birds and only five 
litable nesting sites. English Sparrows are 
radually working from the cities out into the 
>untry, and as they do not migrate and use 
96 
their nest for a roost in the winter-time, they 
are not long in finding these cavities in the 
trees; they build in them, and when our 
Wrens, Bluebirds and their less numerous com¬ 
panions arrive from the South they find their 
nesting site already occupied by Sparrows. 
Many of these birds then hang around and do 
not nest the whole season, and if this continues 
it will much deplete our flocks of useful farm 
birds. My suggestion now is to put up bird- 
boxes for these birds. A tomato-can makes a 
good home for a Wren or a Bluebird. Bend 
the lid back, leaving a small opening; also re¬ 
member to put one or two holes in the bottom 
so that it cannot fill with rain and thus drown 
out the birds, as often happens in cavities in 
trees, and you have a very durable bird-house 
which will last several years. These birds as a 
class feed only on insects, bugs, caterpillars, 
etc., and farmers would find them very useful 
in protecting their trees and crops. * * * 
I put up twenty cans and cigar-boxes last 
year in an orchard, of which fourteen were 
used, ten by Wrens and four by Bluebirds. In 
the orchard I could find only one cavity; this 
was not used, as the birds that had occupied it 
the previous season used a tin can instead. 
I believe many birds do not nest because 
they do not find suitable nesting sites. Birds 
return to the same nesting site year after year, 
and it is very hard on them if, when they come 
back, they find their favorite tree cut down or, 
as often happens, that the nest is being used 
by English Sparrows. I do not contend, as 
some do, that the English Sparrow drives all 
our native birds away by fighting; he does it 
another way. He takes possession of their 
nest in the winter time when the owners are 
South, and when they come back they are sel¬ 
dom able to drive out the Sparrows, who by 
this time generally have young in the nest. 
No one can blame them for defending their 
eggs or young against birds they have never 
seen before. Nothing is too small for Wrens 
to build in and nothing too large; whatever 
they build in, they will fill up all waste space 
with sticks. Tie up a paper bag, put a hole 
in the side and a Wren will use it for a nest. 
This shows how hard up they are for nesting 
sites; so why can we not help them out,— 
every one do a little. 
—Josiah Clark, in Bird Lore. 
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