How to Attract the Birds 



grass, moss, leaves, hair, fur or feathers into the tree. 

 When some birds had learned to weave these mater- 

 ials into a cup-shaped cradle (the second step), and 

 choicely lined it (the third); finally when a few of 

 the number actually expressed a sense of the beauti- 

 ful in the exquisite neatness, symmetry and adorn- 

 ment of their home, their architecture became an 

 art indeed. The nest had stood for love and duty 

 before ; now with the higher development of the 

 intellectual and aesthetic sense of the home-maker 

 came new delight in achievement. Imagination 

 awoke. 



But it must not be inferred that all the intelligent 

 birds nest in trees and all the stupid ones remain on 

 the ground. In a later paper we shall see that the 

 terns and other sea birds which place their eggs 

 among the pebbles on the beach, and the ruffed 

 grouse which lays hers among dead leaves in the 

 woods, and the night hawk which frequently 

 chooses a depression in a bare rock to cradle her 

 treasures, show just as much intelligence as the most 

 expert weaver. 



TUNNEL BUILDERS 



The belted kingfisher and the bank swallow 

 secure protection for themselves and their young, 

 not by nesting in the trees, but by excavating a hole 

 in a bank, preferably one that is steep enough to 

 discourage intruding climbers. It usually takes a 

 fortnight of hard digging for the kingfisher to tunnel 

 four feet deep, so that when a home is found twice 

 that depth with ample nursery accommodations at 



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