298 CITIZEN BIRD 



out beyond the soft part. They feed on insects which 

 they catch as tliey dash through tlie air, and can also 

 break off dry twigs for nest-buikling without stopping 

 — sometimes seizing the little sticks in their bills and 

 sometimes in their claws, which are much stronger 

 than those of Swallows." 



" How do they make the sticks stay in the chimney ? 

 What do they set them on, and how do they perch 

 while they are building?" asked Nat, all in one breath. 



" Do you remember how the little Brown Creeper 

 propped himself against the tree when he looked for 

 insects ? " 



"Yes," said Rap; "lie stuck his sharp tail-feathers 

 into the bark and made a bracket of himself." 



"The Swift does this also when he fastens twigs 

 together for a nest. They are glued together into a 

 little openwork basket, and gummed to the Avail of the 

 chimney, with a sticky fluid which comes from his own 

 mouth." 



" Fve got a lot of old nests that fell down the 

 chimney after a storm last winter that Avet the glue 

 and made them come unstuck," said Joe; "and I'll 

 giA^e you each one. If 3'ou look up the hole A\diere 

 the kitchen fireplace Av^as, you can see the ncAV nests 

 quite plain ; for the birds don't build them A^ery near 

 the top." 



" Be careful of loose stones ! " called the Doctor ; but 

 in a flash four young heads had disappeared in the 

 ruins of the great fireplace, AA^here three pairs of trousers 

 and a short broAvn linen skirt alone Avere Aasible. 



In a little AAdiile they had some milk and straAV- 

 berries ; and before the}^ droA e on Joe's father prom- 



