THE BUILDING OF THE NEST. 



interest in the waning season ; something to look for in the 

 naked woods, a motive for winter walks. Though many of 

 the frailer structures melt away or are torn down by high 

 winds, the more carefully woven ones often remain over the 

 winter. 



On looking out one morning last January, after a night 

 when a light, thawing snow had been followed by a sharp 

 freeze, I was surprised and fascinated by the appearance 

 of an Oriole's nest which hung from an elm near the house, 

 and which had been invisible before. Its gray pocket was 

 brimful of soft snow, which was oozing out of the top like 

 foam, while the outside was coated with thin ice, which 

 accentuated the woven strands and hung down in fantastic 

 icicles scintillating in the sun. 



Another winter day I was attracted by seeing a field- 

 mouse run from a tuft of grass at the root of a small bush, 

 and I found there a nest, presumably that of a Song Spar- 

 row, containing two Sparrow eggs and one belonging to the 

 Cowbird. The nest had evidently been abandoned on 

 account of the alien egg, and it made a convenient hiding- 

 place for the mouse, who had nibbled at the eggs and found 

 their contents dried away. In the autumn and winter you 

 may appropriate the nests you find, and examine and pull 

 them apart with a freedom which, if indulged in during the 

 spring or early summer, would give many a bird the heart- 

 ache and an added distrust of bipeds. 



Do you remember the January entry in Thoreau's 

 journal? "Another bright winter's day, to the woods to 

 see what birds' nests are made of." 



Now if you are interested, awake, and clear-eyed, go out 

 as I have said, and I will lead you, figuratively, telling you 

 what you may find as a foretaste. Begin near at home ; go 

 through the garden first, then to the nearest field and the 

 bit of marsh-bordered wood. Do not go further than where 

 you may walk without ceremony or fuss. Never make a 

 laborious tour of the bird-quest, or think that you must live 

 in a tent remote from people, in order to name the majority 

 of our every-day birds. 



15 



