[XXIV]
BIRD HOUSES
The boys felt that they were ready for business, and Ralph suggested that they had provided enough weather vanes and windmills, but had made no provisions for the birds.
The cat, that arch enemy of the native birds, had driven the robins, martins, and wrens all away. Each year some of these brave little birds started homes in the trees near the house only to have their families devoured as soon as they were hatched.
A bird house to be attractive need not be very pretentious, but it must absolutely be cat-proof, or the birds will inspect it carefully from all points of view and leave it severely alone. A nest well hidden in the tree foliage or shrubbery is not nearly so conspicuous as a brightly painted house fastened to the limbs of a tree. The side of a barn or outhouse, far enough down from the roof so that the cat cannot reach it, or a tall pole covered on the upper part with tin, so that the feline bird hunter cannot gain a foothold, are about the only safe places for a house which the birds will actually adopt. The first house our woodworkers manufactured is shown in [Fig. 137].
This was a single or one-family house, and its construction was very simple.
The list of material follows:
| One pc. 1⁄2 -inch pine or white wood 10 × 61⁄2 ins. | |
| Two pcs. 1⁄2 -inch pine or white wood 71⁄2 × 3 ins. | |
| One pc. 1⁄2 -inch pine or white wood 91⁄2 × 5 ins. | |
| One pc. 1⁄2 -inch pine or white wood 91⁄2 × 41⁄2 ins. | |
| Two pcs. 1⁄2 -inch pine or white wood 51⁄4 × 41⁄2 ins. |
The first piece, 10 × 61⁄2 inches, was simply squared up for the bottom. The two pieces for the sides, 71⁄2 × 3 inches, were squared up, and one edge of each planed to a 45-degree bevel, to engage with the roof boards.
The latter were squared up, and nailed together at right angles with 11⁄4-inch brads.