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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



BALTIMORE ORIOLE'S NEST. 



Correspondence should be addressed to the editor, Mr. Edmund J. Sawyer, 715 Franklin Street, 

 Watertown, New York. Everything in this department not otherwise credited is 



by the department editor. 



Birds' Nests in Winter. 



Birds' nests are still objects of in- 

 terest although most of their summer 

 charm has vanished. Wind, rain and 

 snow have deprived them of their indi- 

 viduality, and in many cases have left 

 them little more than mere masses of 

 straws, twigs, leaves or cordage; yet 

 even now they may be profitably stud- 

 ied ; in most cases they can still be 

 identified. The nest of the majority 

 of species that build in trees will often 

 hang together in a fair state of preser- 

 vation though the winter. Such are 

 much more easily found than when 

 hidden among the dense green leaves. 

 It is now possible to learn with little 

 difficulty a good deal about the nesting 



NEST OF THE SHRIKE. 



sites preferred by hawks, flycatchers, 

 vireos, warblers, thrushes and many 

 other birds. 



It seems needless to state that cer- 

 tain nests, those of phoebes, barn swal- 

 lows, cliff swallows and many built 

 in tunnels, hollow trees and rails, are 

 wholly intact. 



The size and general form, together 

 with the materials, are usually suffi- 

 cient to identify a nest. Its location is 

 next in importance. Often I have 

 found addled eggs or a fragment of an 

 eggshell large enough to make cer- 

 tain the identity of an old nest. But 

 remember that an eggshell will become 

 bleached when long exposed to the 

 weather, while the spots and other 

 markings will sometimes be washed off. 



Small mammals sometimes use old 

 nests as places of shelter and as din- 

 ing rooms. The white-footed mouse 

 commonly does this. It is not unusual 

 to find a catbird's nest or a thrasher's 

 filled with buckwheat husks or with 

 the shells of hazel or of basswood nuts. 

 Once or twice after brushing away the 

 snow, I have found the mouse himself 

 curled up in his last sleep. 



The nests of crows and of large 

 hawks become winter headquarters for 

 squirrels. After filling the nest with 

 dry leaves, under them the squirrel 

 passes many a stormy day. Sometimes 

 he neglects to draw in his tail. Left 



