NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
ment was unnecessary, and I watched them 
openly. At first they came with mud, then 
bits of fibre and fine moss, then more fibre. 
For six days they were busy weaving and 
shaping it to their taste. As she sat in it to 
mould it, her little tail was often flat up 
against the boards, a most uncomfortable 
position, but the home-making so absorbed 
her that she did not mind. When the house 
was finished, an artist might have marvelled 
at its beauty, — of soft green and silver, so 
round and smooth that it looked to be 
shaven, and yet every little spear of moss 
was perfect inshape. It has been suggested 
that Phoebes, humming-birds, and others who 
pad their nests thickly with moss and down, 
do so to render them non-conductors of 
electricity during a storm; but this seems to 
me very improbable. Yet what better ex- 
planation have I? We all ask ‘‘ why?” 
but he who is to explain Nature’s mysteries 
is yet to come. It was enough for me to 
know that when the five tiny white eggs 
were laid in that pretty nest, the mother 
Q2 
