BIRDS OF KANSAS 31 



Some of the birds upon whom the Cowbird imposes an 

 egg for incubation resent the intrusion, and skillfully 

 build another floor in the nest, covering up the foreign 

 egg, and begin over again on the second floor. Our Yellow 

 Warbler is known to do this. 



The little Screech Owl is another tree-builder, but he 

 will not reject a cosy place in a barn or shed. His colors 

 and quiet ways are very helpful to him. Boys are well 

 aware of the fact that an Owl is hard to find — he is to 

 be heard, not seen. Not, however, is he to be heard when 

 flying, for the feathers have an extra finish of soft, silky, 

 down that makes the wing-beats silent. Ho likes a hol- 

 low tree for his home, making it comfortable and cosy 

 with leaves and feathers. He has cultivated a taste for 

 the English Sparrow. This is several points in his favor. 



The Crested Flycatcher, a cousin to the Kingbird, 

 shows a queer taste in selecting material for interior 

 decoration. Besides the usual building materials — 

 twigs, grasses, and rootlets — it does not consider the 

 furnishings quite complete till a cast-off snake-skin is 

 secured and worked in. It is hard to account for this 

 reptilian taste. 



A close observer of birds writes that he once saw this 

 Flycatcher pick uj^ an onion-skin and carry it off, think- 

 ing, perhaps, that it was a snake-skin. Mr. Goss relates 

 that in the month of June, 1887, a pair built a nest in 

 one of the cannons on the State-house grounds at Topeka. 

 One egg was laid, but unfortunately at that time the 

 cannon was brought into use for drill, and the nest de- 

 stroyed. 



The Barn Swallow is a clever little plasterer. The 

 bowl-shaped nest plastered against the side of a barn, or 

 under the eaves, is composed of little pieces of mud, 



