174 EYE SPY 
wonder at the labor involved in the accumulation 
of such a mass. A cloudy dandelion ball in the 
grass doubtless looks inviting to the nest-builder, 
but how much of this tuft would the bird be able 
to secure in her bill when a mere touch or breath 
perhaps is sufficient to scatter the ball to the 
breeze ? No ; I cannot believe my bird of the 
dandelion nest wasted her energies in picking up 
a single seed here and there from a dandelion 
ball, or perhaps on the wing. A discovery of a 
few years ago has shown me how dandelion 
seeds may be cleverly gathered by a shrewd nest- 
builder, and how a whole nest may be feathered 
with them without much labor. 
For some years I was puzzled to account for a 
peculiar mutilation which I often observed on the 
dandelion. It was always at the same place the 
calyx of the blossom the green portion which 
incloses the bud, and, after blooming, closes again 
about the withered flower, and so remains while 
the seeds are growing. Most of my readers 
have seen dandelion flowers in all their stages of 
growth. The flower usually blooms for three 
mornings. By this time all the tiny yellow flow- 
erets which make up the yellow cushion have 
bloomed. The green calyx now closes, to remain 
closed, for a week, while the stem generally bends 
outward, and thus draws the withered flower tow- 
ards the ground, often hiding it beneath the leaves. 
