THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
you tramp through them), for there will be Bobolinks in the timothy. Best of all, swing a hammock in the old orchard. and, lying in it, you will see and hear so much that, wondering greatly, you will agree with Burroughs when he says, "I only know that birds have a language which is very expressive and which is easily translatable into the human tongue."
After watching the skill that builds the nest, it is difficult to overestimate the individual beauty of some of the structures. Comparatively few, outside of the charmed circle, know the diversity of form and materials shown in nest building, and the wonderful adaptability of both, by the bird, to its special needs.
The length of time which a nest remains in use varies with different birds. Burroughs says in the chapter on Birds' Nests, in his perennial « Wake Robin,"[1] The birds may be divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into five general classes. First, those that repair or appropriate the last year's nest, as the Wren, Swallow, Bluebird, Great-crested Flycatcher, Owls, Eagles, Fish Hawks, and a few others. Secondly, those that build anew each season, though frequently rearing more than one brood in the same nest.
Of these the Phobe bird is a well-known example. Thirdly, those that build a new nest for each brood, which includes the greatest number of species. Fourthly, a limited number that make no nest of their own, but appropriate the abandoned nests of other birds. Finally, those who use no nest at all, but deposit their eggs in the sand, which is the case with a large number of aquatic fowls."
Birds' nests are often regarded as merely aggregations of sticks and straws twisted together more or less carelessly; on the whole, rather monotonous, dirty affairs. I know an observant farmer who understands all the weather signs and a great deal of woodcraft, and spends his year in the pasture, field, brush lot, and woods; but whose ideas of birds' nests are purely conventional. He does not call any structure And New York.
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- ↑ "Wake Robin," by John Burroughs, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston And New York.
