THE AQUARIUM 241 
nesting-box made specially for the benefit of Tits. 
You will see that it is covered with bark, and is 
placed on a bark-covered fence, which matches it 
very well. It has a small hole for entraiice and 
exit, and a removable lid to enable observation of 
what is going on inside. This box secured first 
prize in a competition promoted by Mr. W. Percival 
Westell, the secretary and founder of the Young 
Naturalists’ League. Of course, you may make 
boxes that are easier to construct. The points you 
have to keep in view are suitable size for the birds 
you hope to attract, a sloping lid to throw off water, 
and an entrance hole, which for Tits should not be 
much bigger than a penny. A nesting-box for small 
birds need not be more than six or seven inches cube. 
Tits require no perch outside their box. Sparrows 
like perches outside, and require the holes to be 
rather larger. Starlings need an even bigger hole, 
and more room in the box. Robins will build in all 
sorts of curious places ; in an old kettle or a cast-off 
hat. I have seen a nest in the pocket of an old 
mackintosh hanging dust-laden in a barn! 
Don’t paint the outsides of your nesting-boxes 
with gay colours. Let them appear old, dirty, and 
just as if they grew where they are placed. It is 
not a bad plan.to give them a coat of dull paint, 
and, while yet wet, rub them over with earth. 
For the study of pond-life you will need to rig 
up an aquarium of some kind. For lack of any- 
thing better, you can work with glass jars, or a 
cheap gold-fish bowl. But round vessels give a 
distorted view of their contents. With the exercise 
of a little ingenuity you should be able to make 
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