5^6 Birds Every Child Should Know 



as most of his kin. Seven times he rapidly 

 repeats ''Sweet — sweet — sweet — sweet — sweet — 

 sweeter-sweeter*' to his sweetheart, but this 

 happy little lovemaker's incessant song is apt 

 to become almost tiresome to everybody except 

 his mate. 



What a clever little creature she is! More 

 than any other bird she suffers from the per- 

 secutions of that dusky rascal, the cowbird. 

 In May, with much help from her mate, she 

 builds an exquisite little cradle of silvery plant 

 fibre, usually shreds of milkweed stalk, grass, 

 leaves, and caterpillars' silk, neatly lined with 

 kair, feathers, and the downy felt of fern fronds. 

 The cradle is sometimes placed in the crotch 

 of an elder bush, sometimes in a willow tree; 

 preferably near water where insects are abun- 

 dant, but often in a terminal branch of some 

 orchard tree. 



Scarcely is it finished before the skulking 

 cowbird watches her chance to lay an egg 

 in it that she may not be bothered with the 

 care of her own baby. She knows that the 

 yellow warbler is a gentle, amiable, devoted 

 mother, who will probably work herself to death, 

 if necessary, rather than let the big baby cow- 

 bird starve. But she sometimes makes a great 

 mistake in her individual. Not all yellow 

 warblers will permit the outrage. They prefer 

 to weave a new bottom to their nest, over the 



