The Bird Study Book | Page 8

hand into a {26}
Cardinal's nest and had a finger well bitten for his misdeed. Beware,
too, of trying to caress a Screech Owl sitting on its eggs in a hollow
tree; its claws are very sharp, and you will need first-aid attention if
you persist. Occasionally some bird will let you stroke its back before
deserting its eggs, and may even let you take its photograph while you

are thus engaged. On one occasion I removed a Turkey Vulture's egg
from beneath the sitting bird. It merely hissed feebly as I approached,
and a moment later humbly laid at my feet a portion of the carrion
which it had eaten a short time before--a well-meant but not wholly
appreciated peace-offering.
Lessons to Be Learned.--An infinite variety of interesting things may
be learned by watching birds at their nests, or by a study of the nests
themselves. How many persons have ever tried to answer seriously the
old conundrum: "How many straws go to make a bird's nest?" Let us
examine critically one nest and see what we find. One spring after a red
squirrel had destroyed the three eggs in a Veery's {27} nest which I had
had under observation, I determined to study carefully its composition,
knowing the birds would not want to make use of it again. The nest
rested among the top limbs of a little brush-pile and was just two feet
above the ground. Some young shoots had grown up through the brush
and their leaves partly covered the nest from view. It had an extreme
breadth of ten inches and was five inches high. The inner cup was two
and one-half inches deep, and measured the same across the top. In its
construction two small weed stalks and eleven slender twigs were used.
The latter were from four and one-half to eight inches long. The main
bulk of the nest was made up of sixty-eight large leaves, besides a mass
of decayed leaf fragments. Inside this bed was the inner nest, composed
of strips of soft bark. Assembling this latter material I found that when
compressed with the hands its bulk was about the size of a baseball.
Among the decaying leaves near the base of the nest three beetles and a
small snail had found a home.
{28}
The Veery, in common with a large number of other birds, builds a nest
open at the top. The eggs, therefore, are often more or less exposed to
the Crow, the pilfering Jay, and the egg-stealing red squirrel. This
necessitates a very close and careful watch on the part of the owners.
At times it may seem that the birds are not in sight, and that the eggs
are deserted; but let the observer go too near, and invariably one or
both old birds will let him know of their presence by voicing their

resentment and sending abroad their cries of distress.
Character of Material Used.--A wide variety of material is used by
birds that build open nests. Cotton and feathers enter largely into the
composition of the lining of a Shrike's nest. In Florida the Mockingbird
shows a decided preference for the withered leaves and stems of
life-everlasting, better known as the plant that produces "rabbit
tobacco." The nest of the Summer Tanager is made almost entirely of
grasses, the outer half being green, freshly plucked blades that contrast
strikingly with the {29} brown inner layer with which the nest is lined.
Many of the Thrushes make use of large flat leaves, and also of rags
and pieces of paper. Robins stiffen their nests by making in them a
substantial cup of mud, which, when dry, adds greatly to the solidity of
the structure. On the island of Cape Hatteras there are many sheep, and
many Prairie Warblers of the region make their nests entirely of wool.
The most dainty structure built, in this country, by the bill and feet of
birds, is the nest made by the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. When
completed it is scarcely larger than an English walnut, and is saddled
on a small horizontal limb of a tree, often many feet from the ground. It
is composed almost entirely of soft plant fibres, fragments of spiders'
webs sometimes being used to hold them in shape. The outer sides are
thickly studded with bits of lichen, and practised, indeed, is the eye of
the man or woman that can distinguish it from a knot on a limb.
Although the Hummingbird's nest is exceedingly frail, there is nothing
on record to show that {30} any great number of them come to grief
during the summer rains. It is, however, not called upon for a long term
of occupation. Within a month after the two white eggs are laid the
young depart on their tiny pinions.