Bird box

“ Bird Box Specifications.
To successfully entice the birds to a man,—or rather boy—or girl-made home, there are certain rules which experience has proven we must follow.
The drawings in this book have been made as nearly correct as careful study of all available data on the subject will allow. The author feels confident that if the drawings, together with the specifications that go with them, are carefully followed the artisan will be amply rewarded by finding all bird tenements “let” as soon as the spring migration and nesting season starts. ”

“ So confiding is the blue-bird, that when a box with a hole in it is arranged in some convenient situation near a house, it will at once take possession, building its nest in it, and never failing to utter its sweet music in acknowledgment of the boon. ”

“ I had a box made with a compartment one foot square, so that we could treat six birds at one time. Near the top of each compartment there is a hole large enough for the bird to put his head through, and outside we put a 26 trough which is slightly raised from the ground, so that the birds can just reach the contents. Fill it with small grain, and they keep busy most of the time, which insures their not being smothered, and their necks passing through the hole prevents the fume of the wash escaping too rapidly. Of course, someone must remain and watch the birds all the time ”

“ Nesting Boxes for Birds.—To overcome this difficulty the Audubon Society several years ago began to advocate the erection of suitable nesting boxes, and to-day the practice is gaining wide usage. More persons every year are putting such boxes upon poles {218} or nailing them to trees about their homes, and some city authorities include bird boxes in the annual expenditure for the care of public parks. ”

“ I had a box which rested on a low table, divided off into two compartments, one filled with gravel and the other with food. In the centre of one side was part of a broomstick, with any number of perches all sizes on it, and a platform over the other side where a brass cage stood. The box and perches, being painted light green, made a pretty sight when the perches were filled with many birds of different size and colour. There was a platform that rested on the window-sill, where Teddy, the pigeon, liked best to stay. ”

“ It has long been a custom, in many parts of the country, to fix a small box at the end of a [283] long pole, in gardens, about houses, &c., as a place for it to build in. In these boxes they build and hatch their young. When the young are hatched, the parent bird feeds them with a variety of different insects, particularly such as are injurious in gardens. ”

“ Smooth the specimen lightly and place it, head down, in a paper cone, which should be long enough to allow folding the top without bending the tail feathers. Then the bird may be placed in a fish basket, which is the best receptacle for carrying birds, as it is not only light to carry, but also admits the air. Never shut a bird up in a close box in warm weather, as it will spoil very quickly. Care of a bird in the field will save much labor, and your cabinet specimens will look enough better to warrant it. ”

“ A pigeon-box is a tall, oblong affair, in several storeys, each divided by a diagonal partition. In each of the compartments thus provided a pigeon is placed, the broad end of the triangle accommodating the bird's head and shoulders, and the tapering tail just fitting in the sharper apex. Now, if a searcher omit to lift out the upper storeys, it is plain he will not see any pigeons in the storeys below—nor, indeed, any tobacco or brandy. ”

“ Direct the children to put up boxes for martins, bluebirds, and wrens. These may be also put up around the schoolhouses, if fortunately there is a yard with trees. Boxes for the martins should be large, containing fifteen or more compartments, each ten inches high by eight wide and eight deep, and each having a separate entrance. The martin box or house should be placed twenty feet from the ground, upon the top of a strong post or platform sustained by four smaller posts. ”

“ Another "rough and ready" method is simply pouring hot water through the bird's skin; this relaxes just sufficiently to bend the head, which many workmen of slovenly habits consider quite sufficient!
The next most ancient method is relaxing by the plaster box, which is a rough box, with a lid made to fit over all tightly, and having the whole of its inside lined with a coating of plaster of Paris mixed with water, and laid on two or three inches thick. 'When a bird is to be "relaxed," the inside of the box is saturated with water, which the plaster readily absorbs up to a certain point. ”

“ It was not much more than a decade ago that the first serious commercial attempt was made to place bird boxes on the market. To-day there are not less than twenty firms engaged in their manufacture. Some of the boxes are very ornate and make beautiful additions even to the most carefully kept estate. One can buy them at prices varying from thirty-five cents to thirty-five dollars each. ”

“ The female when setting, likes the protection of the covered top and enclosed sides. Then the male can always sleep above her, and hear her every movement, and he never allows any other bird to alight on his particular box. To clean them, I would roll up newspaper and straw lining and put in the furnace, then set the box aside to be whitewashed. ”

“ PART I.—BIRDS. CHAPTER I.—COLLECTING.
Section I.: Trapping, etc.—Several devices for securing birds for specimens may be successfully practised, one of the simplest of which is the box-trap, so familiar to every schoolboy. If this be baited with an ear of corn and placed in woods frequented by jays, when the ground is covered with snow, and a few kernels of corn scattered about, as an attraction, these usually wary birds will not fail to enter the trap. I have captured numbers in this way, in fact, the first bird which I ever skinned and mounted, was a blue jay, caught in a box-trap. ”

“ Only this forenoon, since the foregoing paragraphs were written, I passed a box perched upon a pole beside a house, and at least six bluebirds were sitting upon its platform, or investigating its different apartments. Sometimes a pair (so they looked, one bright colored, the other dull) sat side by side before a door, like married lovers. Sometimes one would go inside, sometimes both, while out of the next door another bird would be peeping. The box was very unlikely to have been their home; the countryside is overrun with bluebirds, too many by half to have summered hereabout ”

“ In autumn and winter, it will sometimes dart on birds in cages which are outside the window. It may then be easily caught, if the cage be put into a sort of box, having the lid so placed that the bird by the least touch would cause it to fall upon itself. These means must be employed by those who wish to possess birds which they can let go and come at will. ”

“ A few cents expended for lumber and a very little labour in the making of a small box to be attached to the side of a tree or erected on a post, are all that is needed to keep the Bluebirds where they can cheer the hearts of sorrowing visitors. ”

“ The chances are that the bird-loving boy or girl will make the better citizen.
Birds That Adapt Themselves to Nesting Boxes.
There is quite a large number of birds that easily adapt themselves to the artificially made house. The main thing is to consider the type of house that will appeal to the intended tenants, one that approaches nearest to their natural desires and nesting sites.
Bluebirds and house wrens are the easiest to entice to the nesting box. Plain weather stained boxes or those covered with bark have proven to be the best type. ”

“ Singing Bird boxes The invention of these marvellous pieces of mechanism dates from about the middle of the eighteenth century.
When they first appeared they were so highly praised that they were immediately bought by the principal Courts of Europe, and it is only later, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that the very high class of people could acquire the rare specimen that came now and then on the market.—
The characteristic of the antique singing bird snuff boxes, is that the bird, when singing and moving its wings, opens its beak, when turning the head. ”

“ Means of increasing the number of warblers Insects are very numerous, and there is reason to believe that much benefit would result if we could multiply the present number of their enemies—the birds. The erection of bird boxes and shelters is an easy way to increase the number of certain species of birds, like swallows and chickadees. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, our warblers do not build their nests in cavities, and hence can not be induced to occupy bird boxes. ”

“ If you look a second time at these boxes you will be made aware of the fact that they are inhabited by certain moving animals; for pairs of bright eyes will gleam out upon you through the iron bars and occasional switching of some beastly tails against the sides of the cages will become audible, as will every now and then a deep smothered roar. Inspecting the box-cages or cage-boxes, more closely you will see, further, that one of them contains a three-year old lion, just getting his young moustache, or, what answers the same purpose to a lion—his mane. ”

“ No other bird finds such an assortment of nesting boxes, all sizes, shapes and colors, some homemade, others purchased. Some he will use, while others offer no attraction. He may pass up a well-placed wren house to build in the pocket of an old coat hung in a shed. He likes boxes 8 to 10 feet above ground, not hidden by limbs.
He prefers low shrubs, piles of brush or wood, or even open spots in heavy timber, for there he finds the insects and small spiders which form the major part of his food. Most of his hunting is either on or near the ground while nesting sites are seldom above 12 feet. ”

“ If a box is not too large, and the hole is only large enough to admit of the passage of the birds, they will often carry in only just enough material to build the nest, leaving the space all open above. ”

“ Then, "on the upper edge of the sleeping-box, which one must give them as a substitute for their nest, a round little head becomes visible; the body follows and soon one of the little creatures sits on the narrow edge of the box in a graceful Squirrel-like attitude, the flying membrane half folded against its body, half hanging down in a soft curve. The small, expanded ears move back and forth as does the bewhiskered muzzle, and the large, dark eyes inquisitively scan the cage and surroundings. ”

“ Rearing at home has enabled me to follow every detail of the construction of this curious piece of architecture—a real strong box which can brave all the severity of the weather. First of all the larva pushes away the remains of its feast into a corner of the cell, or the compartment arranged for it in a box with paper partitions. Having cleared a space, it affixes to the walls of its abode threads of a beautiful white silk, forming a spidery web which keeps the heap of food-remains at a distance, and serves as scaffolding for the work to come. ”

“ Take the box to the staff. Put a piece of comb in the lower half. Turn on some of the mixture, then close the box. Pull out the slide, and cover the glass with coat, hat, or hand. Look every minute to see if the bees have gone down to the honey. When they are down, open the box gently, and stand back. As soon as a bee is full he will drop off the box and swing to and fro, until he thinks that he has fastened the spot in his memory. Then he will begin to circle, to find landmarks, to guide him to the hive. His circles will increase in size and height, and he will soon be lost to the eye. ”

“ An alighting-board is fitted close under the entrance, for the bees to settle upon when returning laden with honey. This alighting-board is removable for the convenience of - 126 - packing. The centre, or stock box, A, called by Mr. Nutt the Pavilion of Nature, is the receptacle for the swarm, E E are two block fronts, which open with a hinge. A semicircular hole, three inches long and two wide in the middle, is cut in the upper floor-board immediately under the window of each box; these apertures are closed by separate perforated zinc slides. ”

“ It is surprising that they never do actually lay in such nests, except when the side or dome has been accidentally broken enough to admit the light into the interior. Whenever I set boxes up in my trees, the female Cow-birds were the first to visit them. Sometimes one will spend half a day loitering about and inspecting a box, repeatedly climbing round and over it, and always ending at the entrance, into which she peers curiously, and when about to enter starting back, as if scared at the obscurity within. ”

“ When you notice that the bees have fairly commenced work in the honey-box, and are likely to keep to it, a second and afterwards other supers may still be added, the new one being always placed uppermost; in all cases the remaining box C must be added below the stock, which will afford additional room and prevent swarming, exchanging the entrance to the newly-furnished box and sliding in pieces of wood to close the aperture of that above. Supers and nadirs may in fact be added—in fine seasons and with first-rate management—till there are eight or ten boxes in the pile. ”

“ It is a good thing, whether kept in a cage or let range, always to have a box in its way, in which it may take refuge when frightened; it will not fail to hide itself there, and by this means will not be tempted to beat itself violently, which it does when it cannot fly from the object of its fright. ”