Fig. 51 is an old fruit-can. Fig. 52 is the same nailed to a board. These tin cans may not appear beautiful when nailed to tree or shed, but if neatly painted and wired together (Fig. 53) they will present a most attractive appearance. Fig. 54 is a nest of cans, roofed. If a bunch of straw is bound firmly together, and the opposite ends spread over the bird-house (Fig. 55), it will make a very attractive thatched roof. A House of Straw. A pretty and durable house may be made by binding straw around hoops, and roofing the structure thus made with a bunch of straw. [Illustration: FIGS. 56-58.--A Thatched Barrel.] Figs. 56, 57, and 58 explain the structure of A Barrel for a Martin-House which, when neatly made and thatched with straw, is decidedly ornamental, and will be duly appreciated by your bird friends. If we can keep the English sparrows away, the bluebirds will nest in any sort of a sheltered hole. Earthenware flower-pots, as shown in Fig. 59, may be used for bird-houses if you enlarge the holes in their bottoms to serve as doorways, and enclose the upper part between two boards (Figs. 60 and 61) which have previously had places cut out to receive the pots. If any of your shade or fruit-trees have [Illustration: FIGS. 59-63.--From Earthenware Pots.] Old Knot-holes in them (Fig. 62), the rotten wood can be cleaned out, a frame nailed around the opening, and a neat little door (Fig. 63) put on the frame. The door should have a hole through it, with a perch or stick attached, and this will make an ideal bird-house. An Available Supply of Moist Clay will often induce the cliff-swallows to plant a colony in your neighborhood, and holes made in the gable ends of your stable will invite the social barn-swallow to build under the protecting roof. Do not fail to keep fresh water, in shallow pans or earthenware dishes, on your lawn, for bird baths. At my suggestion Samuel Jackson, my young brother-in-law, set out baths upon the lawn last summer, and the photograph on the opposite page is one which he took of a wild robin enjoying his free bath. There is another Little Native American friend which the noisy sparrows are doing their best to drive away. This is the house-wren: as interesting and busy a little mite as ever protected a garden from noxious insects. If you make your wren-house door the size of a silver quarter of a dollar no robber sparrow can enter to despoil the nest. Of our seven common species of swallows, four are availing themselves of the opportunity offered by the barns for nesting. [Illustration: Wild Robin at His Bath. _Photographed from life by Samuel Jackson._] Barn-swallows build under roofs; cliff-swallows, under eaves; the white-bellied-swallow and martin, in boxes set up for that purpose, when these shelters are not preëmpted by the English sparrows.