1 66 BIRD WORLD. 



It is very strange to walk where birds are singing 

 all about, and to notice that they have suddenly 

 become silent and motionless. If you look up, there 

 is probably a hawk flying overhead. The birds have 

 seen him before you have, and dare not move a 

 feather that will attract attention. Most of their long 

 journeys are performed at night. Many of them 

 make even their shorter journeys from place to place 

 about their homes by slipping from bush to bush or 

 along stone walls and thickets. 



Only birds that are strong and swift of wing feel 

 free to fly straight through the air. Some birds are 

 so skilful in the air that they take no pains to conceal 

 themselves ; if the hawk is swift, they are swifter. It 

 would be waste of time for most hawks to chase a 

 swallow; the swallows know it and fly boldly about 

 in the open sky. 



To protect the young and the eggs is a harder 

 matter. If an enemy finds these, there is no escape. 

 The bird, therefore, tries to hide the nest or to place 

 it out of reach. It is only when winter comes and 

 the trees and branches are bare that we see all about 

 us the nests which, though full last spring of eggs and 

 young, were never noticed. 



By putting the nest behind protecting leaves, 

 under a tuft of grass or a loose piece of bark, by build- 

 ing it of material colored like the ground or twigs on 



