. Department circular. Agriculture. 23 Wrens are rather local in Massachusetts, but when once a colony is started they are almost perfectly protected in nesting boxes and are likely to increase. There should he at least three boxes to each pair of wrens, as they are so industrious that a pair often will build two additional nests beside the one in use, and such building activity may keep them out of mis- chief. Otherwise they may attack the eggs of other birds. Many writers express the belief that it is a mistake to put up nesting boxes too near together, as jealousy and fighting will ensue an
. Department circular. Agriculture. 23 Wrens are rather local in Massachusetts, but when once a colony is started they are almost perfectly protected in nesting boxes and are likely to increase. There should he at least three boxes to each pair of wrens, as they are so industrious that a pair often will build two additional nests beside the one in use, and such building activity may keep them out of mis- chief. Otherwise they may attack the eggs of other birds. Many writers express the belief that it is a mistake to put up nesting boxes too near together, as jealousy and fighting will ensue and none of them will be occupied, I have held this view and published it, but have discarded it since I have seen five pairs of bluebirds nesting in the trees around one farm house; three pairs of tree swallows nesting in boxes on one small tree; several pairs of bluebirds in boxes on one barn, and a pair of bluebirds and one of tree swallows on the same pole. (See Plate VII, Fig. 1, and Plate VIII.) Other things being equal, the more boxes the more birds. But the house wren may be an exception to this rule, as it sometimes is exceedingly quarrelsome. My later experience seems to show that a plethora of boxes makes less trouble than is the case where few are available. In 1915 I had 25 boxes mounted on poles in a field of about two acres, and 24 were occupied by na- tive birds. Ordinarily, boxes set up 100 to 200 feet apart are more likely to be occupied the first year than those situ- ated closer. Later, if these are successful, the number may be increased. Martin Houses. The purple martin is the only bird that needs a bird house. It is a waste of lum- ber to build houses with many rooms for any other bird, as a single pair of bluebirds, swalloMS or wrens often will hold a large,. Fig. 25. — Martin house, after Trafton. (Courtesy Houghton Mifflin.). Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - col
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