BmnS' ENEMIES. 1 67 



which it rests, the bird hopes to conceal it from all 

 strange eyes. When she sits, her own sober colors 

 and quiet position prevent her from being noticed. 



The Oriole hangs her pendent nest at the ends of 

 long twigs, for the squirrels do not care to trust their 

 weight at the tips of long branches, and the nest is 

 too deep for other creatures to get into. The wood- 

 pecker's holes are too narrow to admit any enemies 

 besides snakes, so that neither woodpeckers nor Orioles 

 take great pains to conceal their nests. 



Many birds that live on the ground have still 

 another way of keeping enemies from discovering 

 their nests, — a way which it takes courage to carry 

 out, and which wins our respect. The mother bird 

 often attracts attention to herself, and so leads us away 

 from the nest, by pretending lameness and fluttering 

 slowly off in the opposite direction. 



Many birds, too, though very cowardly when they 

 themselves are attacked, show surprising courage in 

 defending their nests and young. The hen, for 

 example, is by no means brave, but she covers her 

 chickens with her wings at sight of a hawk and looks 

 him boldly in the face. 



When we see the birds thus kept in constant fear 

 by such a variety of enemies, liable to attack in any 

 place, by day or night, does it not seem hard that 

 those to whom they can give the greatest pleasure, 



