CHAPTER VII 



THE NESTING SEASON 



AS the spring migration passes into history, we 

 are compensated by finding ourselves 

 launched upon the full tide of what is in 

 many ways the best time of all, the height of the nest- 

 ing season, the time of love, of jubilant song, of beau- 

 tiful home-life. It affords golden opportunities for 

 intimate acquaintance with the life of many of the 

 birds. During migration we see many of the birds 

 individually, but of each one we gain at best but a 

 fleeting glimpse ere it is gone, probably to be seen 

 no more. But when we find a nesting-site we can 

 return again and again to meet the same birds, ob- 

 serve their individual traits, learn how they spend 

 their time, what they eat, how they build their homes, 

 how long it takes to build, lay eggs, incubate, rear 

 their young, how they feed them, and all sorts of de- 

 tails of their lives. Moreover, this is the time of 

 all to secure photographs. 



The height of the nesting-season, in the Middle 

 and Northern States, is from about the twenty-fifth 

 of May to the twentieth of June, four wonderful 

 weeks of special opportunity. Short and fleeting it 



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