with the intention to favor the city sportsman, 
then, they evidently did not see beyond their 
noses, for the benefit is all in favor of the land 
owners.” 
The thinking farmer is better posted and will 
soon realize the economic value of the wild life 
on his place. We are making a strenuous effort 
to get into his hands facts as we feel that 90 per 
cent, of his antagonism in the past has been due 
to his ignorance of our purpose rather than to 
other causes. It is beyond our comprehension 
why a few men in Virginia feel that because they 
live within the boundaries of the Old Dominion 
that they are peculiarly constituted and that con¬ 
ditions surrounding them are entirely different in 
every way, shape and form, from the conditions 
existing in other states of the Republic. Per¬ 
haps the gentleman is not aware of the fact that 
he cannot go into the majority of the states of 
the Union and shoot over land indiscriminately 
and without a license. For his benefit we will 
state that in a great number of states the law 
compels a hunter not only to purchase a license 
to hunt but to employ a registered guide to con¬ 
duct him through the hunting fields, and this is 
becoming more prevalent year by year. 
(6) We quote from the fourth paragraph of 
his letter as follows: “Our Farmer’s Union, 
14,000 strong, was solidly against destroying the 
last sport which kept our boys on the farm.” 
We interpret this to mean that the gentleman 
makes the statement to the effect that the Virgi¬ 
nia Farmer’s Union was solidly against the Hart- 
White bill. If our interpretation is correct then 
the statement made is not a correct one. nor has 
it any facts to substantiate it. A similar state¬ 
ment was made on the floor of the Senate by one 
of the members who voted against this bill. We 
immediately telegraphed the president of the 
Farmer’s Union to know if that association had 
passed any resolution condemning the Hart-White 
bill. He immediately wired us “No.” A similar 
statement was made also on the floor of the 
House and Mr. White, the patron of the bill, 
shook the documentary evidence in the face of 
the delegate making the accusation, and branded it 
as an untruth. The fact is that there are prob¬ 
ably as many members of the Farmer’s Union 
who favor this bill as there are members who 
oppose it. We regret exceedingly that Mr. E. 
did not inform himself correctly on many points 
before he set himself the task of criticising 
through the medium of the public press our en¬ 
deavors toward better game legislation. 
(7) In the fifth paragraph of his letter he sug¬ 
gests: “a fifty cent bounty on hawks.” Let us 
ask him a question. Is he aware of the fact that 
the United States Biological Survey of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture advises that there are 
only two species of hawks that prey upon game, 
namely, the Sharp-shinned and the Cooper 
hawks, the remainder of the hawk family ranking 
among the best friends of the farmer. The 
United States Agricultural Department strongly 
advises the farmer not to kill the hawks in the 
last mentioned class, for they are a valuable asset 
to the land owner. Now, if a bounty were offered 
on hawk scalps, how could the farmer discrimi¬ 
nate? We are informed by excellent authority 
that two states which have tried the experiment 
of paying a bounty on hawk scalps came near 
bankrupting their game funds because scalps 
were brought in not only from the hawks killed 
within the legitimate boundaries of those states, 
FOREST AND STREAM 
but they were collected from all the surround¬ 
ing states, and numerous tricks were imposed 
upon the state officials. 
Again must we hark back to this point: is Vir¬ 
ginia a little world unto itself, or have we not 
some of the moral, physical and geological char¬ 
acteristics of our sister state? Does not prece¬ 
dent count for anything in this gentleman’s esti¬ 
mation? If so, will he kindly tell us why forty- 
four states out of forty-eight in the Union have 
adopted a system of game commissioners, or 
their equivalent, and depend on a comprehensive 
enforcing of good game laws rather than on a 
bounty on hawk scalps? 
(8) In next to his last paragraph he states: 
“It is the country against the city.” Again we 
say this is not a fact, and he speaks without 
knowledge of conditions, and for his information 
we beg to say that the two undersigned associa¬ 
tions, who were in reality the fathers of the 
More than 20,000 nesting boxes or bird-houses, 
have been put up in Massachusetts at my recom- 
Enemy of Rat and Mouse-—-Also of Song and 
Game Birds. 
mendation during the past ten years, but unfor¬ 
tunately many of these have not been occupied by 
birds. People need instruction regarding the 
sizes of bird-houses and when, how, and where 
to place them. One reason why people in cities 
have not been successful is that native birds 
which nest in boxes will not settle in numbers 
where English sparrows, cats, and squirrels are 
numerous. 
Nesting boxes for the smaller birds should be 
made with entrances so small that gray squirrels 
cannot get in. Sparrows may be kept out of the 
wrens’ nesting boxes by making the entrance not 
over one inch in diameter. They may be discour¬ 
aged from building in other nesting boxes by tak¬ 
ing their eggs, which involves no cruelty, or by 
keeping the boxes closed until the sparrows have 
built elsewhere, and then opening them about 
May 1, when the native birds have mated. 
The entrance holes of the nesting boxes should 
655 
Hart-White Game Bill, contain educated, up-to- 
date, and progressive farmers and country land- 
owners throughout the breadth of the state of 
Virginia. 
We emphatically deny such a statement which 
has no evidence to substantiate it. We further 
deny and ask for proof of any ulterior motive 
behind our endeavors to snatch Virginia from 
the arms of the game hog. 
It is not our intention to pursue this matter 
further, notwithstanding in what shape replies 
to this letter may come, as we only wish to set 
ourselves right with the sportsmen of Virginia 
who may have absorbed too freely of the intoxi¬ 
cating fiction dealt out by your previous corres¬ 
pondent. Very truly yours, 
(Signed) W. P. PATTERSON, President, 
Virginia Game & Game Fish Protective 
Association. 
(Signed) M. D. HART, President, 
Virginia Audubon Society. 
be 1 14 inches for chickadees; 1% inches for blue¬ 
birds or swallows and 2 or more inches for mar¬ 
tins. Pine wood is the best material for a bird- 
house as it is light but strong and durable enough- 
Metal or pottery may be used if put up in the 
shade. The log nesting boxes, hollowed out in 
the European style, which are now so popular 
with our people, do not seem to be quite so popu¬ 
lar with native birds as are the old-fashioned 
square-built nesting boxes, which may be very 
easily and cheaply made. We must allow the 
birds to be judges of what they want. The inside 
measurements of a box for wrens may be 3%x 
3%x6; for chickadees 3%x3%x9%; for blue¬ 
birds 4%x4%x9% ; for swallows 5x5x6%. The 
longest dimension is always the vertical one. 
These measurements are not arbitrary. The boxes 
may be larger, but not much smaller. The swal¬ 
low box may have a perch, but that is not abso¬ 
lutely essential. ■ , . 1 
The back board should project two or three 
inches below the box so that it may be nailed or 
screwed to a pole, building, or tree. The roof 
may be horizontal or sloping toward the front, 
and it should project at least two inches over the 
entrance-hole which should be near the top. The 
top should be easily removable, for many reasons. 
Gipsy moths will harbor in nesting boxes and lay 
their eggs there in July or August after the birds 
have gone. The sizes of the entrance-holes are 
most important. If woodpeckers or squirrels at¬ 
tempt to enlarge them they may be reinforced 
with tin or zinc. 
Most people put up too many bird-boxes at 
first. The birds quarrel for them and sometimes 
do not nest in them at all. Boxes should be 
placed at least 100 feet apart at first, 200 feet is 
better. After the first comers have settled and 
have eggs or young, a few other boxes may be 
put up. I have known several pairs of swallows 
to nest in the same house, but this is very rare. 
Nevertheless, in one case, after one pair was well 
settled they allowed another pair to nest in a box 
put up, lower down, on the same pole. The next 
article will take up nesting boxes for martins and 
other larger birds. 
EDWARD PIOWE FORBUSH, 
Massachusetts State Ornithologist. 
How To Make Nesting Boxes For Birds 
