6 BIRDS' NESTS 



which are born naked and are reared in the nest, are dependent on 

 their parents for food. Often a brood is fed several hundred 

 times during the day and it is therefore of the first importance 

 that there should be an abundant, easily accessible supply of the 

 proper kind of food. 



It may be noted that the first birds to nest are Hawks and Owls, 

 which are predaceous, flesh-eating birds living largely on small 

 mice and the like, and have no difficulty in supplying the wants 

 of their young early in the season. In time these birds are fol- 

 lowed by seed-, insect- and fruit-eating species, the young of 

 which, therefore, are not hatched until the food they demand can 

 be obtained. 



The time of a bird's nesting season is also determined by its 

 status in its breeding range, that is, whether it be a resident or a 

 migratory species. Generally speaking, those species which are 

 with us throughout the year nest earlier than migratory birds of 

 similar habits. It does not always follow, however, that among 

 migratory birds the first species to arrive in the spring are among 

 the earliest to nest ; and we learn, furthermore, that the time of 

 a bird's nesting season is dependent on the character of its nesting- 

 site. In this matter of site concealment is usually of the utmost 

 consequence and a bird does not begin to build its nest until it can 

 be properly hidden. For example. Red-winged Blackbirds reach 

 this vicinity as early as the first of March, but they do not nest 

 until the first half of May. The Woodcock, on the contrary, 

 arrives about two weeks later, but nests more than a month earlier, 

 its eggs sometimes being found as early as April i. The Wood- 

 cock, however, nests on the ground and a site is available as soon 

 as it reaches its summer home, while the Red-wing, swinging its 

 woven basket among cat-tails or in bushes, awaits the growth of 

 vegetation which will conceal it. Doubtless, also, the fact that 

 the young Woodcock leave the nest within an hour or two after 

 their birth, while young Red-wings are in the nest about two weeks, 

 may be in part responsible for this difference in nesting dates. 



Nesting Site. — • After the formalities of courtship have won for 

 a bird its mate, nest-building naturally follows as soon as a proper 

 site has been selected. The nature of the situation in which a 

 bird builds its nest appears to be determined first, by the necessity 



