about eight
inches high. It should always be made of old weather-beaten boards in
order not to frighten away its prospective tenants by looking like a
trap of some kind. The chances are that the sparrows will be the
first birds to claim a house unless we keep a close watch and drive
them away.

One way to keep them out is to make the entrance doorway too small for
them to enter. A hole an inch in diameter will admit a wren or
chickadee and bar out a sparrow, but it will also keep out most of the
other birds. The usual doorway should be two inches in diameter. It is
surprising how soon after we build our bird house we find a tiny pair
making their plans to occupy it and to take up housekeeping. Sometimes
this will happen the same day the bird house is set up. Always provide
some nesting material near at hand; linen or cotton thread,
ravellings, tow, hair and excelsior are all good. Of course we must
not attempt to build the nest. No one is skillful enough for that.

Nearly all of our native birds are migratory, that is they go south
for the winter. The date that we may look for them to return is almost
the same year after year. Some few birds--bluebirds, robins, cedar
birds and song sparrows will stay all winter if it is mild but as a
rule we must not expect the arrival of the feathered songsters until
March. The phoebe bird is about the first one we shall see.

In April look for the brown thrasher, catbird, wren, barn, eave and
tree swallows, martins, king birds and chipping sparrows. In May the
principal birds of our neighbourhood will return--thrushes, vireos,
tanagers, grosbeaks, bobolinks, orioles. The game birds--quail,
partridge, meadowlarks and pheasants do not migrate as a rule. At
least they do not disappear for a time and then return. When they
leave a neighbourhood, they rarely come back to it.

All the song birds begin nesting in May. Consequently we should have
our bird houses "ready for occupancy" May 1st. It will take about
twelve days for most birds to hatch their eggs. Some varieties will
hatch three broods in a season, but two is the usual rule.

We shall require a great deal of patience to tame the wild birds. Some
bird lovers have succeeded in teaching birds to feed from their hands.
A wild bird that is once thoroughly frightened can probably never be
tamed again.

A crow is a very interesting pet. Crows are especially tamable and may
be allowed full liberty around the dooryard. We must get a