BIRD HOUSES BOYS CAN BUILD
BY ALBERT F. SIEPERT, B.S.
Copyright 1916
THE MANUAL ARTS PRESS
PEORIA, ILLINOIS
Fourth Edition, 1919
BIRD HOUSE EXHIBITIONS.
Be Safe. Wear safety glasses and hearing protection when building bird houses.Many cities are beginning to do excellent work along the lines of bird preservation and attraction. This usually leads into an exhibition or contest, though many times quantities of houses are made and sold for other purposes, such as raising money for athletic suits for the school teams.
At Cleveland, Ohio, a large number of houses such as are shown in Figs. 15-19 were made for the city Bird Lovers' Association to be placed in the city parks. The boys received the profits of the sale after materials were paid for. In the Mercer Center, Seattle, Wash., the boys wanted suits for the "team." Bird houses were made in dozen lots for a large department store, and soon the boys had all the money the suits cost. Fig. 36 shows a group of 7th grade boys with the houses made in two class periods of two hours each. At St. Paul, Minn., the annual exhibit has become a larger affair than the automobile show. This year it will be held in the city auditorium which seats 10,000 people. The city council will pay the rent of this building for a week and the boys will see that it is filled with bird houses. Up to date (March 11, 1916) over $1,000 worth of orders have been taken for houses to be delivered after the exhibition. Fig. 62 shows the palm room at the St. Paul exhibit in 1915. The county making the most bird houses in 1915, so far as has been reported, was Allegheny County, Pa., where approximately 15,000 houses were produced. Fig. 67 shows the prize winners in a department store contest at Pittsburgh, Pa., while an exhibit in the same city is shown in Fig. 66.
Space will not permit giving extended rules for such contests since the rules must vary with each city. Briefly, there should be provision made to give all competitors an equal chance. Boys of the 6th grade should meet others of that grade. Prizes may be awarded for the best houses made for the more common birds, such as wrens, bluebirds, and martins. These should be judged as to adaptability or fitness to purpose, amount of protection afforded to birds, good workmanship and artistic merit. A prize might be awarded to the boy whose house has the first pair of birds nesting in it. Prizes may be of many kinds, but tools and books, as well as cash prizes are often given by local business men.
WHERE MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED.
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Publications: Bird Houses and How to Build Them, Bulletin No. 609; Fifty Common Birds, Bulletin No. 513 (15 cents); The English Sparrow as a Pest, Bulletin No. 493.
Magazines which have published articles on birds and bird houses: Bird Lore; Country Life; The Craftsman; Elementary School Teacher; Ladies' Home Journal; Manual Training and Vocational Education; Outing; Outlook; School Arts Magazine; Something To Do; The Farm Journal; The National Geographic Magazine; Youths Companion.
National Association of Audubon Societies: Leaflets, photographs, advice.
Liberty Bell Bird Club of The Farm Journal, Philadelphia, Pa.: Leaflets, books, pictures, supplies, inspiration.
Public Library: Reed, "Bird Guide"; Blackburn, "Problems in Farm Woodwork"; Chapman, "Bird Life"; Hiesemann, "How to Attract Wild Birds"; National Geographic Society, "Common Birds of Town and Country"; Trafton, "Methods of Attracting Birds."
Catalogs of Bird House Companies: Audubon Bird House Co., Meriden, New Hampshire; "Bird Architecture" Crescent Co., Toms River, N. J. (20 cents); Joseph H. Dodson, 728 Security Bldg., Chicago, Ill.; "Bird Houses Large and Small," Mathews Mfg. Co., Cleveland, Ohio; Charles E. White, Box 45B, Kenilworth, Ill.; The Wheatley Pottery, 2429 Reading Road, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Notes
The Index has been added to the Table of Contents.
Some illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks to prevent the breakup of text. Page references match the original book but link to the current locations.
Page 13: FIG. 8. A MARTIN COLONYS was changed to A MARTIN COLONY.
Page 14: The two occurrences of Pere Gynt were changed to Peer Gynt.
Page 15: thoroly was changed to thoroughly.
Page 51: oposite was changed to opposite.
Page 54, now Page 52: shellaced was changed to shellacked.
Templet(s) used 7 times; retained.
Thru, used 3 times; retained.
Page 63: thoro; retained.