Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1917 — INVITE the BIRDS to be NEIGHBORS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INVITE the BIRDS to be NEIGHBORS

PREPARED Bf 7H£ UMT£t> S7XTEJ DEPARffIEFT OF AGRICULTURE

WOODPECKER IS THE BIRD ARt CHITECT. Builders of artificial birdhouses generally go to the woodpecker for designs. and by varying styles to suit the tastes of different kinds of bird's, have been rewarded by such tenants ns chickadees, tufted titmice, whitebreasted nuthatches, Bewick and Carolina wrens, violet-green swahows. crested flycatchers, screech owls, sparrow hawks, and even some of the woodpeckers, 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. Shelters having one or more sides open are used by birds which would never venture into dark houses suited to woodpeckers. They would have been occupied by robins and brown thrashers, and, in one instance, by a song sparrow. Ordinary wooden boxes, if clean, can be' made into birdhouses by merely nailing on a cover and cutting out an entrance hole. Such makeshifts are rarely weatherproof and are never

pleasing to the eye. Branches containing real woodpecker holes, when obtainable.' are perhaps the' best attraction that cun be offered most house birds inthe breeding season, according to the United States biological survey. By carefully fitting such a branch t<j a fruit or shade tree, its origin will scarcely be noticed. The house shown here is suitable for use in trees. It is made from a log or large branch, "hollowed by decay, and fitted with a top and bottom as illustrated in the figure. The cover is to go on after the 10g is fastened in place. Either the top or bottom should be removable so as to permit cleansing. Another way

of making a log house is to split a straight-grained 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. Figure 2 shows the appearance of such a house and how to place the template symmetrically on each half of the stick. The top of this house should be covered with tin or zinc to keep out moisture. The halves should -be fastened together with screws to allow the house to be taken apart and cleaned.

“Log Split and Halves Marked to Be Gouged Out to Form a Cavity. Halves to Be Screwed 'Together. Top Should Ba CovAred With Tin or Zine. —-----

House Made From Hollow !.<>?.

(Fig. 2)

(Fig. 1)