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On wonders of the birds’ nests.



earth itself almost, and you’ll find these nests again and again as

you tramp the fields in the late autumn or before the snow has

come. These quail are polygamous and one bob-o-link v may be

master of a number of these ground-nests, each with its twelve to

eighteen eggs, in proper season.


Our friend the magpie—dear to all for his ability to talk,

plainer even than the parrot does—will build his nest in a high tree or

lofty hedge if he can. This nest is formed on the outside of sharp,

thorny sticks, within of fibrous roots and dry grass. The top is

covered, with an entrance at the side, and the eggs are six or seven.


Like many of the crow family, Goodrich discovered “the mag¬

pie has a strange desire to pilfer and secrete small, shining objects,

especially pieces of money,” if the farmer tor a moment lay these down

within reach. The affecting story of the magpie and the maid, in

which the latter was charged with theft, while the magpie was the

culprit, is founded on fact, and is familiar to all: and these brilliant

objects picked up here and there, are usually to be found in its nest.


Birds, great and small, each take all the pride in their nests

that the most aristocratic American may find in trimming his home,

and the nests invariably reflect the habits and needs of the birds.


Tinest perhaps of all the nests you may find on your winter’s

ramble are those of the humming-bird, often a little sack of thistle¬

down and milk-weed puff, edged with dainty lichen.


Interesting, by way of contrast to these, is a nest that the

tourist is shown ever so often, on the great ostrich-farm near

Pasadena in California. It is the nest of the largest bird in the

world and interesting are the facts connected with it. The African

ostrich it seems is polygamous, the male usually associating with

from two to six females. The hens all lay their eggs together—ten

to twelve apiece in one nest—this merely a shallow cavity scraped

in the ground, of such dimensions as to be conveniently covered by

one of the gigantic birds, in incubation. An ingenious device is

employed by Nature to save space here and give at the same

time to all the eggs their due share of warmth. Each of the

eggs is made to stand with the narrow end on the bottom of the


* We were not aware that the Bob-white quail is called bob-o-link. The latter

is the name for a well-known bunting-like bird in the U.S.A.—ED.



