Yesterday's common
sense ideas to help you maintain and enjoy your country home,
garden, landscape and property.
From the book
Barn Plans and Outbuildings, 1884
It is a mistake to have bird houses too showy and too much
exposed. Most birds naturally choose a retired place for their
nests, and slip into them quietly, that no enemy may discover
where they live. All that is required in a bird house is, a hiding
place, with an opening just large enough for the bird, and a
water-tight roof. There are so very many ways in which these may
be provided, any boy can contrive to make all the bird houses that
may be needed. An old hat, with a hole for a door, tacked by the
rim against a shed, as in figure 1, will be occupied by birds
sooner than a showy bird-house. Figure 2 shows how six kegs may be
placed together to rest upon a pole; the kegs are fastened to the
boards by screws inserted from beneath. Figure 3 shows how a
two-story house may be made separate from two shallow boxes, each
divided into four tenements. Each box has a bottom board,
projecting two inches all around, to answer as a landing place.
The roof should be tight, and the whole so strongly nailed that it
will not warp. It should be well painted.
