A great-crested flycatcher house, with bluebird, suspended from a pear tree, from which Mr. Dodson last year picked eight bushels of pears with not a worm hole in one, and that notwithstanding the fact that the tree had never been sprayed. A flycatcher is certainly a cheaper investment than a spraying-machine.

"About houses and buildings, particularly those on our farms, the ordinary type of birdhouse rather than the hollow log is perhaps more appropriate. Bluebirds, tree-swallows, and house-wrens take to them readily, and if you have a large house on a high pole you may be lucky enough to attract a colony of martins" (see text, page 341).

completely metamorphosed into a very attractive and interesting spot, replete

with bird life.

If wild rice can be made to grow, ducks will be sure to come in greater numbers each year, while regular feeding with corn at proper times may prove an additional attraction to whole flocks of ducks during the migration. Tame callducks may be introduced, and if there are near-by woods nest boxes for the attraction of the wood-ducks should be put up. One may even go into the raising of ducks, though this is often both bothersome and expensive, while the simple flooding of a meadow and intelligent planting of its shores is comparatively little trouble.

Mr. Herbert K. Job, State Ornithologist of Connecticut, is having some very interesting experiences on a game preserve in Connecticut, where low-lying areas have been flooded and the wild ducks attracted in increasing numbers each year from miles around (see picture, page 338).

I know of one man in Canada who several years ago fed a small flock of wild geese that chanced to alight in a pond close beside his house. The geese appreciated the treatment so much that they later returned with friends, and have kept it up from year to year until now I believe that he has had at one time several hundred wild geese virtually in his front yard, and in a very exposed

"If wild rice can be made to grow, ducks will be sure to come in greater numbers each year, while regular feeding with corn at proper times may prove an additional attraction to whole flocks of ducks during the migration. Tame call-ducks may be introduced, and if there are near-by woods, nest-boxes for the attraction of the wood-ducks should be put up" (see page 337).

"Mr. Herbert K. Job, State Ornithologist of Connecticut, is having some very interesting experiences on a game preserve in Connecticut. where low-lying areas have been flooded and the wild ducks attracted in increasing numbers each year from miles around" (see page 337).

can be made a very to birds. It is essen

"A pool with foundation of concrete sunken in the ground interesting feature of any garden, to say nothing of its attractiveness tial, however, that the slope of the sides should be gradual and the water at the edges shallow" (see page 333).

position at that. They seem absolutely fearless, come and go at will, though only a short distance away are gunners who are waiting to take a crack at them.

Only a few of us have ponds to which geese may be attracted, but the above experiment shows what can be and has been done in the way of attracting and taming locally the shy wild geese.

HOUSES FOR THE BIRDS

Of bird-houses, to be supplied for those birds that nest about buildings or in holes of trees, there seems to be an almost infinite variety; tree stumps, real or artificial, boxes, cottages, houses, large and elaborate mansions, barrel-houses, gourds, flower-pots, tin-cans, shelves, and all kinds of contraptions.

Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton went so far as to construct on his place in Connecticut a huge artificial stump, filled with imitation woodpeckers' holes, etc.

He attracted numbers of different kinds of birds and animals, and he seems to have had no end of fun with it. It is not allowed to all of us, however, to be given either the opportunity or the enthusiasm possessed by Mr. Seton.

Of the various kinds of houses space will allow but brief mention. On my own place, which is covered largely with woods, I have used the Berlepsch type of vertical boxes with considerable success. These are simply sections of logs, hollowed out by special machinery in a very particular manner to represent woodpecker cavities, with entrance hole in side of desired diameter, and covered by a wooden cap or roof that may be lifted for purposes of investigation or in order that the nests may be cleaned out from time to time, the whole bolted to an oaken batten, by which they may be fastened to trees (see pages 323 and 325). These may be obtained in Germany,

The Baltimore oriole is remarkable for its bright colors, and to these it owes its name, as the livery of the Lords Baltimore, who founded Maryland, was orange and black of just those tones that the bird exhibits. Cats have been eliminated on this place.

"Water, particularly during the summer months or times of drought, is necessary for the birds. If they can't get it on your place, they will be forced to look elsewhere. The proper installment of a drinking fountain or bird bath is a simple affair, and one that is almost sure to prove a great attraction to the birds, as well as a never-failing source of entertainment to the owner" (see text, page 333).

This colony of swallows built their nests beneath the eaves of a barn at Luenburg, Vt. Note the partial support given by the narrow molding. These eave swallows become much attached to their homes, and if undisturbed will return year after year with unfailing regularity.