356 



PRACTICAL ZOOLOGY 



Mud, vegetable fibers, bark, twigs, horsehair, and thistledown 

 are common nesting materials (Figs. 224, 225, 226). 



The woodpeckers secure a nesting place safe from most in- 

 truders by digging a hole in a tree (Fig. 227). No actual 



FIG. 236 A. Two young red-tailed hawks 17 days old. 

 behind a limb. (Photo, by Hegntjr.) 



One is 



is made by them, but the eggs are laid directly upon the chips 

 at the bottom of the hole. 



One bird is worthy of special mention; this is the cowbird or 

 lazy bird. The cowbird resembles the European cuckoo in its 

 nesting habits. It does not build a nest at all, but lays its eggs 

 in the nests of other birds (Fig. 219), usually of those smaller 

 than itself, and then leaves them to be cared for by the foster 



