A Last Year's Bird's Nest 213 



both the handle and the spout were missing, but it 

 was clearly the thing the Wren long had sought 

 and it was a possession she was ready to defend 

 with her life if need be. 



If we took up the list of odd places in which 

 we have known birds to build nests, like Tenny- 

 son's Brook, the number would go on forever. 

 Two we must mention. A Robin, possibly from 

 Boston, built its nest itj a hub ; one, from Maine, in 

 a boot-leg. 



In China, there is an edible bird's nest, that is, 

 edible to the Chinese, and they are welcome to 

 my share; and in the far North many people get 

 both food and drink, figuratively speaking, out of 

 the Eider-ducks' nest, all the expensive Eider- 

 down of commerce being from the nests of the 

 birds who divest their own bodies to protect their 

 ducklings. Surely nothing else in this world is 

 born into quite so downy a nest. The value of 

 the down has alone kept the duck from the exter- 

 mination that overtook the Labrador Duck. 



The story of birds' nests is a rich lode of nat- 

 ural history which if properly smelted, is easily 

 beaten into leaves as numerous as the leaves of 

 autumn. In other words, the man has not yet 

 been born with the Seer's insight and the Magi- 

 cian's touch to weave again the rare tapestry that 

 Mother Nature's birds have been weaving since 

 the world was fresh and young. The miracle of 



