Hobby CRAFT

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21256, 30 August 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

Hobby CRAFT

BIRDS' HOUSES

Little Bruce Macintosh had just finished his new bird house and had fixed it on a tall post in a secluded spot in the garden. "It doesn't look bad," he said to himself as he stood back to get a better view. "I almost wish 1 had been born a bird." Bruce spent all his spare time for more than a week making it. The base is 2 feet 3 inches long, and 1 foot 6 inches wide and it is fastened to the post with three long post screws. The house is 1 foot wide and 1 foot 9 inches long, and is built centrally upon the base so

that there is a promenade 3 inches wide all round the house. The walls, which are made of 1 inch boards, are 8 inches high at the sides, and rising to a point at either end to provide a suitable pitch for the roof. The ground floor is divided off into six rooms with partitions formed of plywood as shown in the drawing A. Suitable openings 2 inches wide are made in the walls so that each room can be entered from the outside. See plan B. All these ground floor rooms are covered with a single sheet of plywood 1 foot 7 inches long, and 10 inches wide to form the floor of the upper storey, which consists of three rooms divided by partitions fitted across inside the roof. The

two end rooms of this floor are entered from the gable ends where alighting boards have been fitted under the doorways and supported by wooden brackets. The window in the roof acts as a doorway for the middle upper room. The roof is also constructed of plywood, and is fastened on with flat-headed nails. The whole sho' Id be given two good coats of white paint to keep out the wet weather and a strip of tin nailed round the post to keep the cats from climbing up. Bruce's friend, lan Burns, came along the path. He told ruce that he should have put up a scarecrow instead of a birds' house, for, when the birds found their new home, they would live there and eat

the garden plants. But Bruce had different ideas. He said: "While you are chasing the birds away the snails, caterpillars und earwigs are eating up all your seedlings. I put line netting up all over my seedlings. That keeps the birds off, and the birds keep off the insect pests by eating them for breakfast. No, lan, the birds are our best friends, and if they do eat a little lettuce sometimes, they earn it well." Just at that moment a shrill kra-a-a-kra-a-a from the bird house attracted their attention. Both boys looked up and there stood a big fat starling with a straw in her beak, trying to make up her mind which room to claim for her own.

WHAT AM I?

These verses ivere sent in by Mr S. Ayers of Rangiora; he is Sj years of age, and has been a subscriber to "The Press" since the first day it ~vas issued, I came in creation of beauty and light A boon of my Maker's own giving;. 1 am o)d as Eve, the first man's wife, J Yet as fresh as anything living. I I attended the moon at the time of her birth. May a friendship so old never fail; And oft when her highness looks down on the earth I am shrouding her face with a veil I can sing very well, though I am getting old, And am frequently seen to weep; jAnd though I am chilly and shrink j from the cold, | In a glacier 1 ever sleep. ! I wander about the livelong day On the top of the highest mountains, Then down to the valleys I find my way And play in the rills and fountains. A beautiful mantle I weave for the earth, , And I wrap it around in its fold; I can shine like pearls of priceless worth. And the sun makes me glitter like gold. Ah! would I were prized as my merit deserves, And my virtues were more in repute. The ladies would find 1 would strengthen their nerves. And man be less often a brute. BLOCK PUZZLE No- 1 A Correction The Handy Man made two slips in his block puzzle instructions last week, and must have led many boys astray. He said: "A lias a slot in the centre of one side, which i is one inch wide and half an inch ' deep." This should have read: "Two i inches wide and half an inch deep."

He also said: "B is slotted in two adjacent sides to the same width and depth as A." This should have read: "B is slotted on one side two inches wide and half an inch deep, and on an adjacent side one inch wide and half an inch deep." The solution of the puzzle will appear next week-

(By The Handy Man)

RIDDLES

Why is the letter T like an island? Because it is always in the middle of water. What is it that asks no question* yei. always needs answering? A door-knocker. When is a fish like a bird? When it takes a fly. Why is a proud little girl like a music box? Because she is full of airs. What runs but cannot walk, whistles but cannot talk? A railway engine. The answers to these riddles are the names of railway stations in New Zealand. The riddles were sent by Daphne Pepper, Papanui. What is the jolliest place in New Zealand? Ho Ho. At which station does the cook spoil the ham? Burnham. Why do firemen wear strong boots? To prevent Sockburn. What town is heavy at one end i and light at the other? j Featherston. ! Who was a great poet? Milton.

EXCHANGES

Leicester Marker, 26 Edenbridge street, Spreydort, Christchurch, has 30 cigarette cards to exchange for 30 stamps. Anyone who sends a number of mixed foreign stamps to Arthur Jones, Box 4, Leeston, will receive in exchange, 195 mixed cigarette cards, together with a set of Hornby train lines (worth 2/6h_ Stan Vincent, Lime Works, Ml. has a stamp album with 500 good stamps, including 'Queen Victoria ones, for a telephone set. Bettv"'Gabriel sen, North Balelutha. Southland, has foreign stamps to exchange for different ones. Among others are Toga, Transvaal and Free City of Danzig in her collection. A. S. Bannan, Blackwater, want> to have letters from a boy who i" interested in football. About lyears of age. _ . Joan Foster, "Glenmore," Waipara R.M.D., would like a girl of U years to write to her, Interested in poultry. George Drayton, 82 TlaekthoiW road. Cashmere, would like to ' ! change 100 cigarette cards t Ol foreign stamps. [ June Kennedy, <>6 Epsom road. | Sockburn, would like a boy or a ! girl of 13 or 14 years to write to her. She is interested in reading and drawing, and is fond of most sports,'particularly riding. She has film photographs to exchange. Jean Crawford. Elgin, Ashburton, would like to exchange four r ea " backed Silver Fern cards—two o spades, two of hearts, ten of and six of spades, for six of clus • queen of diamonds, eight of oluri and four of hearts.