44 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



All communications for this department 

 should be sent to the Department Editor, 

 Mr. Harry G. Higbee, 13 Austin Street, 

 Hyde Park, Massachusetts. Items, articles 

 and photographs in this department not 

 otherwise credited are by the Department 

 Editor. 



Bluebird's Nest on the Ground. 



A most unusual situation of the nest 

 of a bluebird — and in the writer's ex- 

 perience the only instance he has ever 

 known of one nesting upon the ground 

 — is shown in the accompanying illus- 



NEST AND EGGS OF BLUEBIRD ON THE 

 GROUND. 



tration. This nest was observed and 

 the photograph taken in company with 

 Rev. M. B. Townsend, Secretary of The 

 Audubon Society of N. H., and was 

 found in Woodlawn Cemetery at 

 Nashua. 



A stone jar, 6^^ inches high, 4^)4 

 inches in diameter, and with an open- 

 ing at the mouth of 2^ inches, was 

 found lying upon its side in the grass 

 on one of the cemetery lots, being first 

 noted on the twelfth of May. Both 



birds were about on this instance and 

 apparently well contented with their 

 unique home. A considerable quan- 

 'ty of dried grasses formed the nest 

 'vithin the jar and a few hen feathers 

 served for a lining. Four eggs were 

 deposited in the snug enclosure, and it 

 H'ould have been an observation of un- 

 usual interest to have watched the 

 growth of this family, had not fate in- 

 t.erfered in the shape of a careless 

 passer, who, — little realizing its pre- 

 cious contents, — set the jar upon its 

 base, thus breaking one of the eggs and 

 settling them to the bottom among the 

 grasses, causing the birds to desert 

 their home. 



The nest was later found in its dis- 

 ''urbed condition by the cemetery fore- 

 man, who first discovered it, and the 

 jar has been preserved with its con- 

 tents, — still showing three of the eggs. 



One can only speculate as to what 

 caused these birds to choose such a 

 strange location for their home. There 

 were many trees about the place, and 

 only a short distance away was a maple 

 containing a cavity made by wood- 

 peckers such as one might expect blue- 

 l)irds to occupy. It may have been that 

 they first selected this site, and being 

 driven away by the woodpeckers, felt 

 compelled to choose the first convenient 

 hollow at their disposal, which proved 

 to be in the jar here shown. Certain 

 it is that it was an unlucky choice for 

 the birds. In such an exposed position 

 it is extremely doubtful if the young 

 would have here been raised to matur- 

 ity. They would have been an easy 

 prey for the many foraging cats : the 

 sun, beating down upon the unpro- 

 tected jar, might readily have caused 

 their death, while predatory animals 

 and nest vermin would be far more 

 likely to cause their destruction in such 

 a place, than in the cool seclusion of 

 their usual nesting sites. 



