340 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



FIG. 135. BLUEBIRD 



described how robins take mud for their nests from her 

 flowerpots, and Olive Thorne Miller relates that a female 

 robin has been known to dip herself in water, fly directly 



into the dust of the street, 

 and then pick off the mud 

 from her feet and feathers. 

 When it comes to this, we 

 may be sure that a little help 

 will be appreciated. Several 

 children in the Worcester 

 Ten to One Clubs have put 

 out pans of mud and have 

 been greatly delighted in a 

 number of cases by seeing 

 robins come and carry the mud away. But I hope the 

 one who first discovers how to make a nook so inviting 

 that a pair of robins cannot resist the temptation to build 

 their nest in it will tell 

 me, and every one else, all 

 about it. 



It is almost as hard to do 

 without bluebirds, orioles, 

 and vireos, and a host of 

 others, and if plenty of nest- 

 ing material be provided at 

 the proper time, it is per- 

 haps easier to attract orioles 

 and vireos than any others. 

 They can build in almost any tree and find food in every 

 garden and orchard. Hence abundance of nesting mate- 

 rial, linen and cotton thread and strings, store twine, yarn, 



A rout of evanescence 



With a revolving wheel ; 

 A resonance of emerald, 



A rush of cochineal ; 

 And every blossom on the bush 



Adjusts her tumbled head, 

 The mail from Tunis, probably, 



An easy morning's ride. 

 EMILY DICKINSON, Second Series, p. 130. 



A flash of harmless lightning, 



A mist of rainbow dyes, 

 The burnished sunbeams brightening, 



From flower to flower he flies ; 

 While wakes the nodding blossom, 



But just too late to see 

 What lip hath touched her bosom 



And drained her nectary. 



JOHN B. TABB, p. 59. 



