Rare and Curious Nests. 269 



to believe that it was built for the accommodation of either 

 parent while the other was sitting. The aperture was a con- 

 venient outlook for the non-sitting bird, who, from this 

 position, could with little difficulty, like a sentinel from an 

 outpost, detect the approach of an enemy. 



But nothing can exceed in beauty and skill the nest of a 

 female Baltimore Oriole in the writer's possession. It was 

 built under peculiar circumstances, the builder being a 

 prisoner, having been taken from home when quite a fledg- 

 ling. A male companion was brought away at the same 

 time. These birds, the property of Dr. Detwiler, of Easton, 

 Pa., in 1883, were a source of considerable pleasure to that 

 elderly gentleman in his leisure moments. Under his careful, 

 kindly management, they became quite tame, the female 

 manifesting greater familiarity than the male. That either 

 would become so accustomed to confinement as to evince a 

 desire to build never entered the mind of the Doctor. They 

 had, when he was alone, the freedom of his studio. One 

 lovely June morning, the outside world brimming over with 

 life and joy and sunshine, the door of their cage was thrown 

 open, and the Doctor settled himself into a soft easy-chair 

 to read. Hardly had he scanned a dozen lines, when some- 

 thing pulling at his hair caused him to drop his paper and 

 look around. He was not slow to detect the offender in the 

 person of his female feathered friend who was seen flying 

 towards the most distant corner of the room with something, 

 resembling hair, in her bill. The reading was resumed, and 

 again the culprit stole cautiously to where he was sitting, 

 and, seizing another hair, was off in a twinkling. 



Permitting for a while these liberties, and noticing that 

 bits of strings were, when placed in positions to be seen, 

 quite as much the objects of interest as the hairs of his head, 

 the Doctor was not slow in divining the motive which led to 

 this strange and unexpected behavior. Convinced by 

 actions, as significant as words themselves could be, that his 

 little friend was desirous to build a home, he began to cast 



