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Summer Residents, and it is from these that we must learn 
of the home life of birds. 
“The visitors who stop awhile on their way to other 
places we may learn to call by name, but we can never 
really know them any more than we can a chance visitor 
who boards a few weeks in our vicinity. 
“The nesting habits of birds and the manner in which 
they build their homes vary according to the necessity and 
skill of the species. (See Citizen Bird.) 
“Tn their house-building you will find that the birds 
know almost as many trades as human beings, for among 
them are weavers, basket-makers, masons, and carpenters, 
as well as workers in felt, hair, and feathers. 
“Many water-birds merely make a hollow in the sand or 
gather a few bits of grass together for a nest. 
“The Grouse, Quail, and Woodcock scratch up a few 
leaves in a ground hollow or between stumps, for, like 
domestic fowl, they always nest on the ground and their 
colour, being dull, blends with it, and you may almost 
step on one of these birds when it is on its nest and never 
know it. 
“The dull brown Sparrows build nests of grasses set in 
a low bush or between its roots, but the flaming Oriole 
weaves himself a snug hammock high out on a swaying elm 
bough, and the Scarlet Tanager builds high in an oak. 
The Blue Jay weaves small roots into a firm nest set well 
above reach, while the Bluebird lines a hollow in a tree 
or takes an abandoned Woodpecker’s hole for his house. 
The Woodpeckers chisel out homes in tree-trunks, and 
Robins and Cliff and Barn Swallows use more or less mud, 
and plaster the inside of their homes. If you watch care- 
