”At my request my friend, William P. Wharton, of Groton, Mass.. who had little success with nesting boxes on trees, tried putting them on poles on his wire fences, and the second year most of them were occupied by birds.

I have tried out this year a form of box that has been very successful. It is very cheaply made by Mr. E. C. Ware, of Wareham, Mass., and one of its strongest recommendations is that the cover can be taken off very quickly. There are two nails, one on either side, pushed through the sides of the box into a crosspiece fastened under the cover, and they are set into large holes so that they may be easily pulled out with the fingers and you can lift the top right off. If the English sparrows get in we take out, twice a month, all the eggs of the sparrows, and generally they do not lay there more than once if you take out the eggs after a full set has been laid. They soon tire of it and leave. We believe this to be better than removing their nests. After the sparrows have left native birds come and occupy the boxes.”

Reference Data:

Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture, Vol. 43, by New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 1916, page 65