82 BIRD WORLD, 



and strong that it often hangs through the rain and 

 snow of two winters after the bird has used it. 



There is generally a lining in the round end on 

 which the eggs are laid. Here the mother sits swing- 

 ing in the wind till the young are hatched, and there 

 they swing like sailor boys in a snug hammock. 

 The leaves above them keep off the sun and rain. 

 What bird could wish for a better home 1 



Few American birds are such skilful weavers as the 

 Oriole, and none dare to hang their nests so close to 

 the ends of twigs. The other weavers, too, generally 

 use coarser material. Instead of fine woolen or silken 

 threads they use roots, grass, tough barks, or even 

 twigs ; but many make wonderfully neat nests for all 

 that. We have room to speak of only two before 

 we leave America and hear about some foreign nest 

 builders. 



The Humming Bird's nest is as tiny as its owner; 

 it is a little cup saddled on a twig and generally 

 covered on the outside with the same gray lichens 

 which grow on the twig itself. At a distance it looks 

 like a little gray knot on a knotty bough, and most 

 eyes, even if they rest on it, fail to see it. 



The Song Sparrow and many of his family build 

 on the ground and Aveave into the nest so much dry 

 grass that the nest, half hidden under a tuft, is very 

 hard to make out. It is only when the mother bird 



