BIRD STORIES 



decided to take their peace and sunshine on the flat 

 roof of a very high building in a very large city. Their 

 house-lot was covered with pebbles, and it suited them 

 exactly. So well that they moved in, just as it was. 



Yes, those two ridiculous birds set up housekeeping 

 without any house. Mother Nomer just settled herself 

 on the bare pebbles in a satisfied way, and that was all 

 there was to it. Not a stick or a wisp of hay or a feather 

 to mark the place! And as she sat there quietly, a queer 

 thing happened. She disappeared from sight. As long 

 as she did n't move, she could n't be seen. Her dap- 

 pled feathers did n't look like a bird. They looked like 

 the light and dark of the pebbles of the flat roof. Ah, 

 so that was the one thing more that was necessary for 

 her home, besides sunshine and peace and good hunting. 

 It must be w^here she could sit and not show ; where she 

 could hide by just looking like what was near her, like 

 a sand-colored grasshopper on the sand in the sun,i qj. ^ 

 walking-stick on a twig,^ or a butterfly on the bark of a 

 tree.i 



Yes, Mis's mate knew, in some natural wise way of 

 her own, the secret of making use of what we call her 

 ^^ protective coloration." This is one of the very most 

 important secrets Mother Nature has given her children, 

 and many use it — not birds alone, but beasts and 



^ See Hexapod Stories, pages 4, 1 10, 126. 

 138 



