NATURE STUDY. 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 



Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences. 



Vol. IV. July, 1903. No. 2. 



The Nest That Failed. 



BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



There is a wood so near a city that one may hear the 

 steam whistles and the striking of the big clocks, and yet 

 far enough away so that the din of the turmoil is softened. 

 Paths wind through the dense growth beneath the trees. 

 and cross one another irregularly. It would be a delight- 

 ful solitude, if such a number of solitude-seekers did not 

 destroy what they pursue, as sometimes happens in the 

 pursuit of other things. 



Directly overhead, across one of the paths, two red- 

 eyed vireos built their nest. We found it by first observ- 

 ing the male, flitting about among the bushes. Soon, as 

 we approached,, the female flew from the nest, setting in 

 motion the bough from which it hung. Then we won- 

 dered thai we had not seen it before, and that others had 

 not seen it also. 



It was a dainty nest, of strips of inner bark from dead 

 trees, root fibers and a long piece of twine, all skilfully in- 



