162 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



it can find for cordage. Many birds weave shorter fibers into 

 the walls of their nests. Most birds find suitable upholster- 

 ing fibers for cushioning the eggs horsehair or feathers or 

 thistledown. And the robin mixes grass blades and bast 

 fibers with the clay out of which he builds his mud nest. The 

 birds know how to find proper raw material in great variety. 

 Let us in the following study examine some of these un- 

 developed fiber resources. 



Study 20. Native fiber products 



This is a study for the day when the weather is most un- 

 favorable for field work; when the cold is too bitter or the 

 blast too fierce for prolonged work outdoors. Then, certain 

 fiber products may be gathered quickly and taken inside for 

 examination; but a satisfactory range of materials for this 

 work may be had only by gathering some of them in advance. 



1 . Nests of birds, especially of Baltimore orioles. These 

 nests are easy to find in winter, being suspended conspicu- 

 ously from elm boughs high above the roads, but they are not 

 easy to reach. The twigs bearing them may be clipped off 

 with a long-handled pruner. 



2 . Nests of mice, especially of deer mice. These are built 

 in the branches of bushes in the woods. 



3. Cotton-bearing seeds of milkweed, etc., should be 

 gathered in autumn at the ripening of their pods. 



4. Herbaceous stems may be gathered for their bast fiber 

 at any time after maturing, and some, such as dogbane and 

 milkweed, should be gathered as a part of this exercise; but 

 in order to obtain the bast readily, the stems should have been 

 gathered earlier and "retted" for a week or more (as neces- 

 sary, according to species) in water. 



5. Coarser fibrous materials in variety. The bast strips 

 of linden are obtained by stripping the bark from young 

 trees in midsummer, when full of sap, and drying it thor- 



