Ill 
THE BIRD’S HOME 
Eacu bird mother has her own way of mak- 
ing the nest, but there is one thing almost all of 
them try to do, and that is to hide it. 
They cannot put their little homes out in 
plain sight, as we do our houses, because so 
many creatures want to rob them. Squirrels 
and snakes and rats, and some big birds, and 
cats and many others, like to eat eggs and young 
birds. 
So most birds try, first of all, to find good 
hiding-places. Some tiny warblers go to the 
tops of the tallest trees, and hide the nest among 
the leaves. Orioles hang the swinging cradle at 
the end of a branch, where cats and snakes and 
naughty boys cannot come. Song sparrows 
tuck the little home in a tuft of weeds, on the 
ground, and bobolinks hide it in the deep grass. 
After a safe place is found, they have to get 
something to build of. They hunt all about 
and gather small twigs, or grass stems, or fine 
