is astonishing how quickly
wild creatures respond to a reasonable treatment. This may readily be
learned by any householder who will try the experiment. With a little
patience any teacher can instruct her pupils in the simple art of
making the birds feel at home in the vicinity of the schoolhouse.

_Natural Nesting Places Destroyed._--Some kinds of birds, as far back
as we know their history, have built their nests in the holes of trees.
Woodpeckers have strong, chisel-shaped bills and are able to excavate
nesting cavities, but there are others that do not possess such tools.
These must depend on finding the abandoned hole of some Woodpecker, or
the natural hollow of some tree. It not infrequently happens that such
birds are obliged to search far and wide for a hole in which they can
make their abode. It is customary for those who take care of lawns and
city parks to chop away and remove all dead limbs or dead trees. As
very few Woodpeckers ever attempt {217} to dig a nesting hole in a
living tree, such work of the axeman means that when the season comes
for the rearing of young, all mated Woodpeckers must move on to where
more natural conditions await them. This results in an abnormal
reduction of the number of holes for the use of the weaker-billed
hole-nesting species, and they must seek the few available hollows or
knot-holes. Even these places are often taken away from them, for
along comes the tree doctor, who, in his purpose of aiding to preserve
the trees, fills up the natural openings with cement and the birds are
literally left out in the cold. It is plainly to be seen, therefore,
that one reason why more birds do not remain in our towns through the
spring months is the absence of places where they can lay their eggs
and rear their young.

[Illustration: Cemented Holes Shut Out the Chickadee]

_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. 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