birds. In March I remove the wire pocket, and mount the shelter a few feet higher, to serve as a nest shelter for robins. The roof will ward off heavy rains, which destroy so many robin's nests. A similar shelter, if fastened in the shade on a wall, might attract phœbes.
When one starts out to make bird houses he should decide first of all what birds he wishes to attract by means of them. Booklets containing drawings and instructions for making houses for many kinds of house-nesting birds can be had free by addressing a postcard to the Biological Survey, Washington, D.C.
Whoever tries to attract birds should also protect them from storms, from their natural enemies, and from meddlesome people. Birds will sometimes reject a good house because it is not properly mounted, or because the location is objectionable. The boy and I visited a park lately where about a hundred bird houses had been put up, and but a few were said to be occupied. These houses were so constructed that, by turning a cleat underneath, the floor could be pulled down and out. If occupied, opening them in this way might have disturbed the nest. We visited twenty-five of these houses. All except two were mounted so low that the boy could reach them, some with ease, and turn those cleats. Only the two which he could not reach were occupied.
Some people have recommended tin cans as nest boxes for small birds. I have tried the tin can, care-
