Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1917 — HOME TOWN HELPS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME TOWN HELPS

SOME~bIROS ARE NEGLECTED Familiar Robin and Friendly Chickadee Almost Forgotten by the Bird- .. house Builders. In the last five years we have heard and read a good deal about birdhouse building. Bluebird, wren and martiM ought now to be well provided for by all bird lovers. Other birds have also been mentioned along with the box nesting idea, as the flicker and the» crested fly-catcher, though these fellows undoubtedly much prefer natural holes,in trees, which the woodpecker generally makes for himself and tho fly-catcher selects with great care« There are exceptions, of course; flickers have-been known to select hole* previously excavated and even those made by man, and we. have bad the crested fly-catcher take up quarters in a deserted Bluebird box of hol-low-limb appearance that was nailed to the trunk of a tree. Some birds, however, have been almost forgotten and one of these is our old, familiar, friendly robin, while another is less familiar, but not less friendly, the cheery chickadee. Robins generally build their nests in vines, on densely-follaged tree limbs, times on porch pillar top or roof beam.. But if they are offered a rather open and roofed box set on a pole and

shielded from cats they are very apt to set up housekeeping therein. The ideal robin box is merely a floor with cleats, two .opposite sides and a gabled roof, two sides, therefore, being Open, and this set on a pole from ten to twenty feet In air will tempt the birds most surely. Dimensions inside should bo about 10 by 10 by 6 Inches.

A House for the Chickadee.