214 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



year nearly the whole of a discarded snake-skin 

 was placed in a circle around the eggs. I have 

 yet to find one of their nests without a piece of 

 snake-skin in it. I think the bird uses it be- 

 cause experiments tried by previous generations 

 have shown that the skin is useful in scaring 

 away squirrels, mice, and other enemies. Be- 

 tween the cottage and the lake I found a song 

 sparrow's nest. It was built in marked contrast 

 to the one in the willow tree on Concord turn- 

 pike. Flat on the ground at the edge of a ditch, 

 its only shelter was a bunch of brush, cut last 

 season and left to dry. From above, the nest 

 and its contents were perfectly concealed, but 

 by stooping down and looking in from the bank 

 of the ditch I could see the neat grass cup and 

 its four richly colored eggs. The bird in leav- 

 ing the nest showed herself expert in dodging. 

 She glided from beneath the brush and over the 

 edge of the ditch, much as a leaf might have if 

 impelled by the wind. Dropping to the bottom 

 of the trench she ran down its gravelly bottom 

 nearly to the shore of the lake before she took 

 wing for the woods. Although the chipping 

 sparrow spends most of its summer in the grass, 

 it builds its nest of coiled horse-hair in the 

 branch of an apple-tree, at least eight or ten feet 

 from the ground. One of their nests was nearly 

 finished in a tree near the dining-room window. 



