86 COLLECTING AND PRESERVING BIRDS' EGGS. 



ornithologist, a bird actually seen on the nest or fluttering away 

 from it is the only sure indication of the parentage. But if the 

 collector has had little experience in studying birds the parent 

 should be snared or shot to put identification beyond doubt, for a 

 bird's life should count as nothing against the verification of a rare 

 nest or the establishment of a new fact. 



The preceding pages of the present volume will give the young 

 collector an idea where he must look for the nests and eggs of the 

 species therein enumerated, but as they are more difficult to procure 

 than birds it is often only through careful and patient observation 

 that they are at all discovered. They are found situated in all man- 

 ner of places ; in cliffs, marshes, tree-tops, low shrubs, clay banks, 

 hollow stumps, thick grass and rushes. The Wood Duck builds 

 its nest in hollow trees, while other closely related species build 

 nests on the ground in swampy places among the rushes. Gulls 

 and Terns usually nest on the ground. The Cowbird never con- 

 structs a nest, but deposits its egg in the nests of other birds 

 smaller than itself— their eggs are found in the nests of Warblers, 

 Vireos and Sparrows. Larks, Grouse, Quail, Snipe, Woodcock 

 and Waders construct their nests on the ground. 



Owls at Home. 



Owls are found nesting in hollow stumps or trunks of trees, in 

 nooks of buildings, in the crevices of rocks,^sometimes in burrows 



fK. 



