24 BIEDS'-NESTING. 



those of the highest organization are the best archi- 

 tects, — and gives us a glimpse of the bird's mind and 

 power to understand and adapt itself to changed con- 

 ditions of life. Over the shape or ornamentation of 

 an egg, the bird has no control, being no more able 

 to govern the matter than it can the growth of its 

 beak. There is as much diiference to me, in the 

 interest inspired, between the nest and the egg 

 of a bird, as between its brain and its skull, — 

 usinff the word bi'ain to mean the seat of intellect. 

 The nest is always more or less the result of con- 

 scious planning and intelligent work, even though 

 it does follow a hereditary habit in its style ; while 

 the egg is an automatic production, varying, if at 

 all, only as the whole organization of the bird under- 

 goes change. Don't neglect the nests then. In 

 them more than anywhere else lies the key to the 

 mind and thoughts of a bird, — the spirit which in- 

 habits that beautiful frame and bubbles out of that 

 golden mouth. And is it not this inner life, — this 

 human significance in bird-nature, — this soul of or- 

 nithology, that we are all aiming to discover? 



Nests are beautiful, too. What can surpass the 

 delicacy of the hummingbird's home, glued to the 

 surface of a mossy branch, or nestling in the warped 

 point of a pendent leaf; the vireo's silken hammock ; 

 the oriole's gracefully swaying purse ; the black- 



