66 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



r if 



CHIPPING SPARROWS AND NEST. 



The Nesting Season. 

 This is perhaps the most interesting 

 season of the bird year. It is far from 

 possible to "cover" the subject of bird 

 nesting in one short article ; it could 

 not be adequately done in the case of 



THE HAUNT AND HOME OF THE PHOEBE. 



a single species. Personal experience 

 will always be urged in this depart- 

 ment ; is especially urged at this sea- 

 son, with the caution that you use due 

 care when near the nests. It is pos- 

 sible to see a great deal of the inter- 

 esting traits which the birds now de- 

 velop without going too near their 

 nests. 



Notice how they guard the secret of 

 their homes ; how their solicitude in- 

 creases as the eggs hatch and as the 

 young grow r ; their peculiar calls of 

 caution, warning and protest when a 

 hawk comes in sight. Make a study 

 of any nesting pair. After the eggs 

 batch you may go as near the nest 

 as you wish, with little fear that the 

 precious fledglings will be abandoned. 

 Watch the parent and the young after 

 the nest is outgrown. Find, for ex- 

 ample, a grouse with her brood. On 

 Mich an occasion I have more than 

 once let the old bird lead me away, 

 then, having first made a rush in her 

 direction, causing her to fly out of 

 sight, I have hurried back and hid my- 

 self near where the young first dis- 

 appeared (as they always do). In 

 fifteen or twenty minutes I have heard 

 the mother's first timid "mewing.'' 

 Soon she calls more reassuringly, and 

 on all sides the chicks respond with 

 lisping voices. One from here and one 

 from there they come out of their hid- 

 ing places, they are beside their 



