How to Attract the Birds 



creatures of necessity have singleness of purpose ; it 

 is only when we imperfectly civilized humans be- 



Photograph by Carl in 



The robin's mud-plastered nest 



come bewildered by the multiplicity of ideas pre- 

 sented for us to choose from, that we are in danger 

 of losing our natural simplicity. 



INDIFFERENT BUILDERS 



Ages and ages ago when the first birds evolved 

 from reptiles (from which all are descended) it is 

 probable they neither built nests, nor incubated their 

 eggs, but left them for the sun to hatch, just as the 

 reptiles leave theirs to this day. Birds of the lower 

 orders are still indifferent builders when they build 

 at all. A depression in the earth, such as barn-yard 

 hens and ducks make with their bodies, and the 



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