AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY 



83 



trembling wings throwing off blue flashes as the sun strikes them, to 

 coo sweet refrains to her. In choosing a nesting site, tastes of 

 different birds vary greatly: One may build in a cavity of an apple tree 

 barely two feet from the ground while another chooses a hollow limb 

 in a chestnut forty feet above the earth; still others find suitable houses 

 in fence posts, bird boxes, etc., and one pair, as shown in our illustra- 

 tions has even resorted to the arm of a scare-crow. 



Wherever we meet them they are the same gentle, confiding birds, 

 very devoted to their off-spring, and it is little wonder that they have 

 so endeared themselves to the hearts of all w^ho know them. 



Photo by A. K. Spaid 

 AN UNUSUAL NESTING PLACE. 



This scare-crow ims adopted as a nesting site by the pair of Bhuhirds which are 

 seen perching on it. The entrance to the nest is in (he arm uniir the lower bird. 



