WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



Our hang-nest has enough discernment to select 

 the safest and best site for a nest ever chosen by a 

 tree-building bird. He has sufficient discretion to 

 inhabit trees where his young will be least exposed 

 to birds of prey. He has sense and skill enough 

 to build a warm or cool house to suit the climate — 

 a deep and tight one where the sun shines brightly, 

 and sharp eyes might see the orange coat of him- 

 self or his mate within, and a loose and (in labor) 

 less expensive one where deep shadows hide it. 

 Surely, then, this consummate workman has in- 

 genuity enough to put a roof over his dwelling to 

 shed the rain and the hawk's glances, leaving only 

 a little door in the side. Both of these things the 

 hang-nest actually does. I myself have seen a 

 nest of his making, over the open top of which a 

 broad leaf had been bent down and tied by glu- 

 tinous threads in such a way as to make a good 

 portico. Mr. Thomas Gentry found a much more 

 complete example at Germantown (Philadelphia), 

 Pennsylvania, where the orioles " were constrained 

 to erect a permanent roof to their dwelling by in- 

 terwoven strings through the deprivation of the 

 verdant and agreeable canopy which the leaves 

 would naturally afford. ... So nicely is the roof 

 adjusted that even the most critical investigation 

 '7 257 



