The Birds and Poets 105 



observed that the second or third nests built late in 

 the season, noticeably of the robin and some of the 

 sparrows, are more carelessly constructed and lack 

 the art and comeliness of the first spring nests. 

 The female seems more anxious to deposit her 

 eggs than when making her first nest, which may 

 account in part for her more slovenly work. Fre- 

 quently the first brood have not yet started out for 

 themselves when the second nest is begun, so that 

 the attention of the parents is divided between the 

 young birds and the new nest. I have wondered 

 also if it were a part of the birds' instinct to know 

 that the first spring nest must be more carefully 

 and securely built in order safely to withstand the 

 more frequent and violent spring storms, against 

 which the buds and early leaves afford a some- 

 what inadequate protection as compared with the 

 heavy foliage of the summer months. 



Among the more common songsters of July may 

 be mentioned the scarlet tanager, the indigo bunt- 

 ing, the rose-breasted grosbeak, the goldfinch, the 

 ubiquitous house wren and an occasional cardinal. 



About the middle of the month a cardinal wan- 

 dered to my back yard, from her haunts along the 

 Desplaines River, and there "told her dream to 

 the dragon-fly" and to me, but these are rather rare 

 joys for July, for the cardinal is more often seen 

 in May and June, during the mating and nesting 

 season. While now common summer residents in 

 certain localities in Northern Illinois and Indiana, 

 twenty years ago they were rather rare. They pre- 



