BISDS'-NESTB. 139 



ers of bill, and so are unable to excavate a 

 nest for themselves. Their habitation, there- 

 fore, is always second-hand. But each spe- 

 cies carries in some soft material of various 

 kinds, or, in other words, furnishes the tene- 

 ment to its liking. The chickadee arranges 

 in the bottom of the cavity a little mat of a 

 light, felt-like substance, which looks as if it 

 came from the hatter's, but which is proba- 

 bly the work of numerous worms or cater- 

 pillars. On this soft lining the female de- 

 posits six white eggs. 



I recently discovered one of these nests in 

 a most interesting situation. The tree con- 

 taining it, a variety of the wild cherry, stood 

 upon the brink of the bald summit of a high 

 mountain. Gray, time-worn rocks lay piled 

 loosely about, or overtoppled the just visible 

 by-ways of the red fox. The trees had a 

 half -scared look, and that indescribable wild- 

 ness which lurks about the tops of all remote 

 mountains possessed the place. Standing 

 there, I looked down upon the back of the 

 red-tailed hawk as he flew out over the earth 

 beneath me. Following him, my eye also 

 took in farms, and settlements, and villages, 

 and other mountain ranges that grew blue 

 in the distance. 



