BIRDS'-NESTS. 145 



and, flirting his tail right and left with 

 marked emphasis, chirps sharply. In a low 

 bush near by, I come upon the object of his 

 solicitude, a thick, compact nest, composed 

 largely of dry leaves and fine grass, in which 

 a plain brown bird is sitting upon four pale 

 blue eggs. 



The wonder is, that a bird will leave the 

 apparent security of the tree-tops, to place 

 its nest in the way of the many dangers that 

 walk and crawl upon the ground. There, 

 far up out of reach, sings the bird ; here, not 

 three feet from the ground, are its eggs or 

 helpless young. The truth is, birds are the 

 greatest enemies of birds, and it is with ref- 

 erence to this fact that many of the smaller 

 species build. 



Perhaps the greatest proportion of birds 

 breed along highways. I have known the 

 ruffed grouse to come out of a dense wood 

 and make its nest at the root of a tree within 

 ten paces of the road, where, no doubt, hawks 

 and crows, as well as skunks and foxes, 

 would be less liable to find it out. Travers- 

 ing remote mountain-roads through dense 

 woods, I have repeatedly seen the veery, or 

 Wilson's thrush, sitting upon her nest, so 

 near me that I could almost take her from it 



