January Twenty-fifth
Nesting-boxes may be placed almost anywhere that there is shade and shelter. They ought to be put beyond the reach of prowling cats and meddlesome children, at least fifteen feet from the ground, and to reap the benefit of your labor, they should be near your sitting-room window.
January Twenty-sixth
It is better not to put an old nest or any nesting material in the houses. Birds prefer to do their own nest building, and they have their notions about house furnishing, which do not agree with our ideas. Birds have often refused nesting-boxes simply because over-zealous persons had stuffed them with hay or excelsior.
January Twenty-seventh
The birds that nest in bird-houses are the ones which, if unprovided with them, would naturally choose cavities in stumps, tree trunks, hollow limbs and the like. Almost without exception this class of nest-builders will return to the same nest year after year, so once a pair has taken up its abode with you, you may expect to see the birds for several summers.
PURPLE MARTINS.