Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1915 — Page 3

Bird Houses and How to Build Them

OIRDS may tee gathered about uB in all seasons of the year with ease and certainty merely by offering What they desire. - In winter they are often pushed for food, and if we supply thia need they will report dally at the lunch Counter and Leip to relieve the tedium of our indoor life. In summer they care less for food provided by their human friends, and other means must be sought to attract them about the home. They appreciate fresh water for bathing and drinking. A shallow pool of varying depth, if only a foot across, becomes on hot days a center of attraction for all the birds In the vicinity, and it may be made with little effort and material; only a small amount of cement Is required, or, if that be lacking, a’ pan with stones in it set in the ground will be equally serviceable. ’ Trees, shrubs and vines bearing fruit relished by birds are great attractions in their season. Birds are desirable about premises not only on account of. their beauty and song, but because of the economic value. There is, therefore, a double purpose in offering them special nesting facilities. If mud is available, swallows, robins and phoebes will find and wall their nests with it. If we put out feathers, bits of wool, or twine, a dozen different kinds of -birds will make use of them. If we furnish safe retreats In which they can rear , their young comfortably, most of them will be occupied. In fact no attraction for summer birds is more

Flicker House Mounted on Post or Stub of Tree.

effectual than a series of houses suited to the needs and habits of the various kinds of house birds. A few years ago only four species were commonly regarded as house birds—-the house wren, the bluebird, the tree swallow, and the martin/ Since the movement to protect birds ahd make neighbors of them began/ however, their natures and needs have become better understood, and it is now known that many other species will avail themselves of houses constructed for them by their human friends. The practice of erecting bird houses in this country, while now na-tion-wide, is not so common and uniformly distributed as it should be, and more extended' provisions of this nature cannot fail to result in a largely Increased number of house birds.

The habit of nesting in bird houses has been adopted by individuals of many species which would not ordinarily be expected to make use of such homes, and this may be taken as an indication that it will become more general from.year to year as facilities are afforded and as the number of birds hatched in houses increases. That western wrens and bluebirds should*take as naturally to artificial shelters as did their eastern relatives was to be expected. On the other hand, the use of houses by birds which until recently ha<T persistently ignored them io surprising and must be considered a victory for those who have studiously attempted to enlarge their circle of feathered neighbors. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, and titmice excavate their own houses, usually new onep each year, leaving the old homes to less capable architects. Builders of artificial houses generally go to the. woodpecker for designs, and by varying styles to suit the tastes of different kinds of birds, have been rewarded by such tenants as chickadees, tufted titmice,% whitebreasted nuthatches, Berwick and Carolina wrens, violet-green swallows, crested flycatchers, screech owls, sparrow hawks, and even some of the w’oodpeckers, the master builders themselves. Flickers readily accept houses built according to their standards. Red-headed and golden-fronted woodpeckers are willing occupants of artificial houses, and even the downy woodpecker, that sturdy little carpenter, has, in one instance at least, deemed such a home a satisfactory abode in which to raise a family. Shel--1 ters having one or more sides open are used by birds which would never venture into dark houses suited to woodpeckers. They have been occupied by robins and brown thrashers,

By Ned Dearborn, Assistant Biologhit Boreawof Biological Survey

and, in one instance, by a song sparrow. ' The number of house birds may be still further augmented as time goes on. All of the commoner woodpeckers are likely to be included, as are several of the small owls and wrens, and a few of the wild ducks, as the golden-eye. The wood duck is already known to use nesting boxes. Houses set close to streams in the western mountains will probably be occupied by ousels or dippers. Florida grackles sometimes breed in flicker holes and may be expected to_ occupy houses now and then. In every locality having trees there is a group of birds ready to appropriate houses when they have the opportunity. House birds differ decidedly in their requirements. For those which usually excavate homes for themselves, the diameter for the entrance and the depth and diameter of the cavity must be in accord with their specific standards. Some birds are satisfied with almost* any sort of a lodging. Bluebirds and wrens, for example, are content to build in tomato cans, although chickadees and nuthatches disdain them. Wood is a better building material than metal or earthenware. Entrance holes should be countersunk from the outside to exclude rain. Heads of nails and screws should be set rather deeply ,and covered* with putty.' All houses should be easy to open for cleaning. A perch at the entrance is unnecessary and may even be an objection, as it is frequently used by English sparrows while they twitter exasperatingly to more desirable occupants. To provide for proper ventilation a row of small holes is sometimes bored just beneath the eaves, but there should never be a ventilating hole lower than the entrance, and joints should he made tight, as drafts of air are dangerous. In case there is danger that rain may be driven in through the door, a small drainage hole, which will be covered by the nest, may be made in the middle of the floor. The appearance and durability of houses are improved by a coat of paint A neutral shade of green or gray is suitable for houses mounted in trees, while those on poles, being conspicuously placed, lend themselves harmoniously to the landscape when painted white.

- Possibilities in the way of improvising bird houses with very little work are suggested in this article. Ordinary tomato cans arranged as nests will quickly be tenanted by “Vrens and bluebirds. The cans ought always to be placed in steaded places, as the metal becomes "ry hot in the sun. Bird houses in the southern states have long been made from gourde The entrance is in the side and a drain hole in the bottom, as shown in figure 4. A piece of wire through the neck dor mounting it completes the house. A number of gourds thus prepared and strung on a pole seems to make a teatisfactory tenement house for a colony of martins. Used singly they are eoually well adapted to wrens and bluebirds. While gourds are not durable when exposed to the weathibr they are easily replaced.

Ordinary wooden boxes, if clean, can be made into bird houses by merely nailing on a cover and cutting out an entrance hole. Such makeshifts are rarely weatherproof and are

No. 13, Nests Made From Hollow Log. No. 14, Interior ‘of Hollow-Log Nests. No. 16, House for Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches or Titmice. No. 16, Style of House Suitable for Sparrow Hawks, Screech Owls. Bluebirds and Wrens. No. 17, for Finches, Roof Broken to Show Interior. Nos. 18 and 19, Food Shelter and Method of Attaching It on Trank of Tree. ‘ -./a > *’ ' > ~ ' ... .... .... -■- • ■ ' ■ -

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

Nos. 2 and 3, Tomato Can Nests for Wrens or Bluebirds. Nos. 4 and 5, Nests Made of Gourds for Martins, Wrens or Bluebirds. Nos. 7 and 8, Outdoor Nest Shelf. No. 9, Nest Shelter Mounted on Pole.

never pleasing to the eye. Branches containing real woodpecker holes, when obtainable, are perhaps the best attraction that can be offered most house birds in tho breeding season. By carefully fitting such a branch to a fruit or shade tree its foreign origin will scarcely be noticed. A good house may be made from a log or large branch, hollowed by decay, if it is fitted with a top and bottom. The cover should be put on lifter the log is fastened into place. Either the top or bottom should be removable. Another way of making a tog house is to split a straightgrained log two feet or more in length through the. middle and then to cut out a cavity with a gouge. The excavations in the two halves can be made to match exactly by means of a pattern or template having the size and shape desired for the proposed cavity through the plane of cleavage. The top of this house should be covered with tin or zinc to keep out moisture. The halves should be fastened together to be taken apart and cleaned. Phoebes like to nest about buildings, and a simple shelf under the roof of a porch or shed is all they require. / A nest shelter designed to be placed 4h shrubbery for catbirds, brown thrashers and song sparrows requires little lumber or labor, and one may well be placed in every patch of weeds or brush frequented hytbese i birtls. Fastened to a large horizontal branch or in a crotch of a tree it is likely to be used by robins. Houses placed on poles are especially suitable for swallows. Blue-

birds and wrens also like this kind of a house, but they prefer one with a rather deep cavity. In building a house for flickers it should be so arranged that the roof can be lifted in the same way as a stopper is removed from a bottle. A house suitable for members of the woodpecker family may also be used for nuthatches, titmice and chickadees. A house designed for wrens and house finches may be placed on a/ tree or fence post. It should be attached near the eaves of a building.

Martin House. No. 21, Showing Roof of Martin House Attached Solidly to Pole.

The front gable is open, entrance to the room below being through the rear of the upper floor. This house can be opened for cleaning by lifting out the upper , floor. Martin houses are built on the apartment plan to satisfy the social instinct so marked in martins but so conspicuously lacking in most other birds. They usually contain not less than 10 to 12 rooms and for this reason are relatively complicated, especially if they are miniatures of elaborate buildings, as is often the case. Like the single-room houses, they should be easy to inspect and clean from top to bottom and, if possible, should be made proof against the English sparrow. When a martin house is exposed to strong winds it may be advisable to attach guy wires to corners of the roof. The pole may be made of a single piece of four-inch galvanized pipe, set in a concrete base. In this case the house should be a cylinder and the roof a cone. Each spring before birds return from the South all filth* and litter should be carefully removed from bird houses. In addition to the relics of previous occupancy, houses are likely to contain cocoons of Insects, and nests of bees or squirrels. Attention to this one item of spring cleaning is a substantial factor in attaching birds permanently to their houses. A little sulphur scattered about a house is a good remedy for parasites, when bluebirds or swallows take possession of a martin house it is a good plan to put up a one-room house in the vicinity and remove the nest from the martin house. Interlopers, thus evicted, often transfer their housekeeping to the. small house. Houses designed for woodpeckers should always have an inch or so of sawdust in the bottom for the reception of eggs, as wood-* peckers do not gather nest materials.. Due attention should be given to repairs. It is easier to keep houses in good order than to build new ones. Birds have numerous enemies from which a careful landlord will try to guard them. Among .hese is the English sparrow, whose persistent attacks too often drive more desirable birds away from their nests and from the neighborhood. European starlings, which at present are not distributed beyond a narrow strip of the Atlantic coast region centering about New York, are to be condemned for their pernicious interference with native house birds.

SHOES MATCH SKIRTS

PRACTICALLY THE KEYNOTE OF THE PREVAILING STYLES. 2 Any Color That Will Combine With the Dress Material Is In OrderMay Be Laced or Buttoned as One Wishes. The new fall skirts demand a special manner of walking. The tiny. Japanese-like steps of last season are not at all the thing for today, writes Idalia de Villiers in the Boston Globe. The new loose outline calls' for a gliding step which may be described as “pseudo-classic” and this step cannot be successfully accomplished unless the lower limbs have absolute freedom. A fascinating novelty is tbe new Russian boot, very high in the leg, which is made of supple gray antelope skin. These boots are intended to accompany gray tailored suits and they are certainly smart and attractive. * I spoke in a recent article of the growing popularity ftf dark-blue leather boots. We now have darkgreen and very dark-crimson leather boots added to the list of popular favorites. Our wotoen of fashion have

Charming Little Toque of Bright Blue Belgian Straw With Silver Gray Shadow Lace and a Single Deep Pink Rose. ■’

quickly realised that the ultra-short skirt calls for a high boot; which matches it, more or less, in color. These high boots are generally laced on the Inner side, but buttoned boots are also fashionable. For beige and pale-tan suits, boots made of suede in the same color are exceedingly chic. The head illustrated shows one of the latest millinery novelties, introduced by a famous Parisian artist The little toque is very small and close fitting. It is made of Belgianblue straw, and the long scarf is composed of silver-gray shadow lace, while a single pink rose of great beauty is placed carelessly at the right side. The long lace scarf is folded across the brim of the toque and then passed round the neck, one long end falling

PLATE-HOLDER OF BAMBOO

Or May Be Used as Decorative Stand for a Photograph or Framed Picture. Old china plates hanging upon the wall always make wonderfully pretty decorations in a room, and they look well, too, placed upon a cabinet or a

Bamboo Plate Holder.

sideboard or the top of a piano. For the latter position some kind of holder is necessary for them, and we give a sketch of a decorative little article for this purpose, constructed with short pieces of thin bamboo and made in the form'of a miniature easel It is joined together with thin sharp nails, and the ends of the upper horizontal

over the left shoulder. Here «.,» have a revival of an old and very charming fashion. These loose veils were immensely popular in the middleVictorian period, and they were then made of embroidered tulle, very fine silk muslin and lace. A few years ago similar veils were very much worn at Biarritz and San Sebastian in the autumn season, but they were then accompanied by widebrimmed, flat hats, and the veils were thrown loosely over the crown, one long end being passed over the shoulder. ' \ Very close-fitting toques are again fashionable. These curious little models are shaped like bowls and they fit down over the head. They are simply trimmed with a cluster of flowers or a jaunty bow of flowered ribbon, and to certain faces they prove infinitely becoming-Belgian-blue is one of the specially popular millinery colors of the year. It is a lovely shade and it harmonizes perfectly with the clear, old-fashioned pink which is so much used on hats just’ now. This pink is deeper and brighter than the pink of American beauty roses but on the same tone. Reboux is making exquisite toques of Belgianblue straw which have an effective touch of black on the crown and at one side a bright pink rose or camelia.

BRASS BUTTONS ON SHOES

Proper Decorative Effects for the Feet Must Be Given More Than Ordinary Care. To match the new military taillenrs trimmed with cord frogs and brass buttons, there are captivating boots and twilled cloth or kid tops cut a little higher than the ordinary boot top, and one may have brass buttons instead of the ordinary sort used on fashionable footwear, if one’s inclinations are very military. The extremely short skirts on all tailored suits now demand the utmost of style and daintiness in bootwear, and the correct street boot for early spring will have a moderately high, curved heel and a buttoned top of sand or putty colored cloth. Most of these boots are of patent leather, which gives the foot the trim, elegant line, essential in conjunction with the rather conspicuous light colored top. The military note is struck throughout the tailored costume by short, jaunty coat shapes, belts,, stitched-on pockets, fanciful cuffs, closely fitting collars and quantities of braid and cord trimming. , • i

CROWNING THE SMALL MAID

Large Variety of Hats Designed for Beautification of the Coming Society Butterflies. Dress hats of fancy and braided nets, soft braid, lace or leghorn, have trimmings of velvet ribbon and tiny flower buds in wreaths, garlands or knots. A little bonnet of leghorn has tiny flower festoons peeping through the straw. A little French cap of embroidered batiste and lace is finished by the daintiest bit of applique flower trimming. The chin bow and streamers fasten with a snap fastener. A dainty model of faintest pink satin and lace frills has a white ostrich wreath - and one pink azalea. For a little brunette girl there is a Tuscan straw, with orange ribbon and appliqued orange flowers. "Very fetching is a little hat of ,fine white hair braid and pink chiffon with little pink flower rings and a bow of twisted pink satin.

Boned Petticoats.

New petticoats of crepe de chine, or of muslin, are made with featherbone extensions. In reality these are forerunners of a return to modes of the old-fashioned skirt extenders which were worn after the hoopskirt styles had had their day.

piece must first be plugged with wood prior to fastening it in position. The edge of the plate rests upon the lower horizontal piece of bamboo and to prevent the possibility of it slipping down it is a good plan to fasten a piece of tape to the back of the plate with blue and tie it round the upper part of the holder. A piece of satin ribbon, selected of a color to harmonize with that of the plate, is tied in a smart little bow upon the top left-hand corner of the holder, and this decoration is repeated again unon the righthand side lower down The small sketch shows the plate placed upon the stand. , * Made in rather a small size, this little article forms a decorative little stand for a photograph or a tiny framed picture.

Use of Cucumber Milk.

Cucumber milk is a good cleansing lotion and also has a mild whitening effect. The formula is as follows: Slice without peeling four large cucumbers, add a cupful of water, boll until soft, cool and strain. To one and one-half ounces of juice add equal portion of alcohol and one-fourth ounce powdered castile soap; let stand over night, add eight ounces of cucumber juice, one | ounce of oil of sweet almonds, twenty drops of tincture of benzoin and a pinch of boric acfd. Shake well Apply twice a day with a sponge.

Bound With Leather.

A frock of georgette crepe is made with three ruffles on the skirt, each bound with a narrow edge of black leather The same black lather la used for a belt and to bind the pockets on the bodice. _ _ _