32 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
had three occupied; the other a six 
roomed house, which also had three 
rooms occupied. Now they are both en¬ 
thusiastic Martin lovers and are going 
to try to increase their colonies this 
year. You must keep the sparrows 
away from your bird-house. Never 
neglect an opportunity to destroy these 
saucy, impudent little scamps. I wish 
that every boy or girl who reads this 
article would try to attract 1o his home 
a pair, or more, of these cheerful, so¬ 
ciable, American birds. Write me the 
results of your experiments with the 
Purple Martin. 
0. A. Ren ah an, 
W aw aka, hid. 
Bird Preservation at Seebach 
One of the most notable bird sanc¬ 
tuaries in the world is the estate of 
Baron von Berlepsch in Thuringia. 
Seebach comprises about 500 acres, of 
which 19 acres are park, 60 acres are 
thickets of poplar and willow for the 
birds and 400 acres are woodland. 
Bushes are specially pruned or tied up 
to make suitable nesting sites; 2,500 
carefully designed nesting boxes are 
put up; food houses and ‘food bells’ 
are placed about the grounds; drinking 
places are provided in spots that are 
distant from streams; and trees are 
sprayed with a specially prepared food 
mixture. As a result of these and 
other provisions, the home park of 12 
or 13 acres contains annually about 
500 pairs of nesting birds, while of the 
2,000 nesting boxes placed in the v T oods 
90 per cent are occupied each year. 
All these and many other details are set 
forth in an admirable treatise entitled 
‘How to Attract and Protect Wild 
Birds, ’ copies of which may be ob¬ 
tained at small cost from the National 
Association of Audubon Societies. 
