Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-04-09

furnishing an endless store OF amuse-
mcnt and instruction.
Bird boxes should be- put up now In
trees. on poles, or on the tops Of hous-
es out Of the reach OF cats. 90 en-
courage the owl. the buohird, the
chickadoe. the wren. and the purple
martin. 60 nest near our homes
Mr. B S. Bowdish. writing in Bird
Lore. observes that the most natural
bird homes and such as may often Doc
provided with tho least trouble. are
pieces of hollow limbs or small hollow
trunks of trees. or the old nesting holes
OF woodpeckcrs he says: III no limbs
with suitable cavities are found. they
may poe made by taking o. piece of
a limb about eight inches 100 diameter
and fourteen Co sixteen Inches long.
dividing it in half with rip saw.
from one end to within about three
inches OF the other. whore 90 is met
by O. rIght-augla cut from the side.
At This point an entrance hole IS made
through the shorter or front hair. The
two halves are then followed out 80
as 90 form "a cylindrical cavity about
three and one-half inches iu diameter
and 10 inches deep, when the two
halves are placed together and wired
such O. bird homo has this advantage
that 60 Young bird dies. or the home
becomes obstructed iu any way beyond
the rcmedyIng of the tenants. the land
lord may open 10 and rectify the
trouble perch is provided just be-
low the entrance by way OF front
porch. a similar bird home is made
by boring am aucur hole from one
end of piece Of limb 90 within
couple of inches of the other plugging
the bored end and making am entrance
hole near the other end. These nest
ing places are for bluchirds, house
wrous. chIckadccs and tree swallows.
a little larger homes Of the same type
are required for crested nycatchcrs,
and decidedly larger ones for nickcrs.
a good sized deserted flicker homo or
similar cavity provides nesting site
10 attract the scrccch owl"
Purple martins prefer To nest in
colonies In the east. elaborate, many
roomed houses are often fully occupied
in sections where the birds are stlll
found Unfortunately. they are COM
paratively rare in contrast with their
former numbers. Tree or white hellied
swallows sometimes occupy the more
elaborate boxes but have much
stronger preference for the more nat
uraI cavity In the limb of tree than
do most species. "The crested fly
catcher has nestled in such natural
cavities. near houses. though normally
n rather retiring bird. The possibility
of this bird for a neighbor Is well
worth providing attractions in the shape
Of auuring cavities. Should pair or
these birds accept such a site they must
not be too much troubled by attentions
until the eggs are Matched. In suit
able spots the chickadee may avail
himself " well-chosen natural cavi-
Is provided for his accommodation.
The flicker IS sometimes not averse TO
accepting "a ready constructed home.
Finally. in the orchard it may he pos
sibe 10 have a scroech owl for a ten
ant. and be assured he is In every way
tenant worth having As n mouse
and rat trap he Is FAR superior 70 the
house cat and II his vocal efforts are
not musical il at least has range and
expression
screech owls bluebrds and chicka-
does are for the most part resident
throughout the year. An Of them are
most likely 10 frequent the nelghbor-
hood OF our homes In search OF food
I'm winter. therefore winter IS the time
10 get the tenant house into place. The
birds are not slow 20 avail themselves
OF such shelters as roosting places from
cold and inclcment weather. Becom-
ing acquainted with the advantages OF
these sites iu winter IL is quite natural
Tor the birds I'm the spring to bring
thcir mates thithcr. and there cstab-
fish their summer home