234 



BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA 



Types of Nests of Birds. 



TYPES OF NESTS OF BIRDS, WITH SPiiiCIAL REFERENCE TO THE 

 FLATHEAD REGION. 



Perley Milton Silloway. 



The nest-building habit of the birds is a marvel of inherited experi- 

 ence. Is it not remrakable that these feathered creatures of the air, 

 roaming among the foliage of trees, bushes, or meadows for the greater 



Fig. 17. Nest and Eggs of Olive-backed Thrush. 



part of the year, should settle upon a particular site, and construct a 

 habitation that often withstands the climatic vicissitudes of many sea- 

 sons? We regard the cowbird as peculiar because of its habit of stealing 

 among the bushes and depositing its eggs in the nests of other birds; but 

 are not the other birds even more peculiar in their instinct of suspending 

 their Bohemian habits for a short period, and settling down to the hum- 

 drum occupation of house-building and home-keeping? When we remem- 

 ber that for eleven-twelfths of the year the birds have no place of shelter 



