NESTING TIME. 



N the course of our excur- 

 sions among the birds we 

 have had occasion to peer 

 into more than one httle 

 sylvan home, lifting the leaves of 

 privacy which embower it, for a friendly 

 inspection. Let us now take a general 

 survey of these wonderful little archi- 

 tects at their work, and of the treasures 

 which their nests contain. It is a pop- 

 ular impression that the nest of a bird 

 is the result of blind instinct, constructed 

 without the exercise of any considerable 

 degree of choice or intelligence. How- 

 ever, no one who has ever watched the 

 parent birds at their work would be 

 willing to accept such a view, I am sure. 

 The scrutiny with which the builders 

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