Sparrow Proof Houses
Mr. D. R. Geery, of Greenwich, Conn., sends us descriptions of the two bird-houses here figured. When designed for Bluebirds, they should be suspended from a limb ten or twelve feet from the ground, in such a manner as to allow them to swing slightly. Mr. Geery writes: "It may happen that the Sparrows will go to these houses and even commence to build, but, as soon as they find that they swing and are not firm, they will abandon them entirely. Wren boxes should be stationary, with an opening not much larger than a twenty-five-cent piece, and placed so as to be well shaded most of the day."
Made of rough boards. Size, 6 inches high, 51/2 inches square at the bottom, 31/2 inches square at the top.
Made from a bark-covered log, 8 inches long and 8 inches in diameter, a hole 5 inches in diameter being bored from end to end, leaving an outer wall 11/2 inches thick.
A Musical Woodpecker
In the pursuit of my profession I had occasion for some time to travel over a certain road, along which is a telephone line, the glass insulators of which are placed on short pieces of hard wood which are nailed directly to the post.
Probably half a dozen times, when on this road, I saw a male Downy Woodpecker perched directly beneath the hard wood block, pecking at it in a manner to make the wire ring, then pausing and evidently listening to the music it had produced.