The Birds and Poets 221 



nest building. The bank swallows and king- 

 fishers and burrowing owls make excavations 

 underground; many of the song birds, including 

 sparrows, meadowlarks, bobolinks, etc., nest in 

 the grass; the warblers usually nest in the branches 

 of bushes or trees; some of the shore birds deposit 

 their eggs upon the bare sand; some of the ducks 

 construct nests that float upon the water; the 

 woodpeckers bore holes in the trees for their 

 homes; the swift always glues its nest to the wall 

 of a chimney; the nighthawk lays its eggs on the 

 bare ground or a flat rock, or sometimes on the roof 

 of a building. 



Wherever it is built, and of whatever materials, 

 the nest of a bird is always an object of interest 

 and inspiration. One needs but quote these lines 

 from Wordsworth : 



"The imperial Consort of the Fairy-King 

 Owns not a sylvan bower, or gorgeous cell 

 With emerald floored, and with purpureal shell 

 Ceilinged and roofed, that is so fair a thing 

 As this low structure, for the tasks of spring 

 Prepared. * * *" 



When the secret of the bird's nest is disclosed, 

 and the eggs or young revealed, one approaching 

 it feels that he may be violating the sanctity of 

 the little unprotected home, like the poet who 



"* * * looked at it and seemed to fear it; 

 Dreading, though wishing, to be near it." 



