Bird Notes and their Value 



peculiar advantages for home-building pre- 

 sented by the tumbling walls and other 

 ruins of a fire-swept tack-works, closely 

 surrounded by trees and bushes. The 

 Phoebe picks out the crannies of the dis- 

 mantled engine-house as exactly to his 

 fancy; while his cousin and friend uses 

 the deep recesses of an open stove-pipe 

 protruding from the half-demolished gable 

 of another building, finding it no doubt 

 just as rain-proof as his traditional hole 

 in a tree — and quite as comfortable. 



Upon a hurried investigation, made one 

 day while the latter was off on a visit, 

 I discovered that he still indulges himself 

 the queer and inexplicable eccentricity 

 of weaving snake-skins into his nest which 

 his forbears probably had, even as far 

 back as the days of Noah. 



However, (eccentric, or not) this same 

 Crested Flycatcher is assuredly a most 

 beautiful and distinguished-looking bird — 

 the coloring of his plumage being so exqui- 

 sitely delicate and varied as to defy intelli- 

 gible description. Its most striking hues are 



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