BIRDS'-NESTS 99 



peckers and kindred species, and with birds that 

 burrow in the ground, as bank swallows, kingfishers, 

 etc., it is a necessity. The accumulation of the 

 excrement in the nest would prove most fatal to the 

 young. 



But even among birds that neither bore nor mine, 

 but which build a shallow nest on the branch of a 

 tree or upon the ground, as the robin, the finches, 

 the buntings, etc., the ordure of the young is re- 

 moved to a distance by the parent bird. When 

 the robin is seen going away from its brood with a 

 slow heavy flight, entirely different from its manner 

 a moment before on approaching the nest with a 

 cherry or worm, it is certain to be engaged in this 

 office. One may observe the social sparrow, when 

 feeding its young, pause a moment after the worm 

 has been given and hop around on the brink of the 

 nest observing the movements within. 



The instinct of cleanliness no doubt prompts the 

 action in all cases, though the disposition to secrecy 

 or concealment may not be unmixed with it. 



The swallows form an exception to the rule, the 

 excrement being voided by the young over the 

 brink of the nest. They form an exception, also, 

 to the rule of secrecy, aiming not so much to con- 

 ceal the nest as to render it inaccessible. 



Other exceptions are the pigeons, hawks, and 

 water-fowls. 



But to return. Having a good chance to note 

 the color and markings of the woodpeckers as they 

 passed in and out at the opening of the nest, I saw 



