WHAT I HAVE DONE WITH BIRDS 



soiled surroundings. This would be to advertise its location 

 widely, and one of the most prominent characteristics of the bird 

 is its power of concealment, its secretive habits. 



Two of my most beautiful Cuckoo nests were on the Hale 

 farm, one of them being pointed out to me by Mr. Will Hale 

 the same day he led me to the Kingfisher's location. This nest was 

 in the crotch of a scrub elm, about twelve feet from the ground, 

 in a thicket on the bank of the little lake opposite the Kingfishers. 

 I do not know what bird originally built that nest, but I do know 

 the Cuckoos never did. The structure began in the sharp parting 

 of the branches, and was one and a half feet in height. Some of 

 the sticks used in its construction toward the top were the thick- 

 ness of a lead pencil and three feet long. Mr. Hale told me the 

 nest had been there several years. The Cuckoos spread a handful 

 of their fine twig nest material in the bottom and pulled a few dry 

 pussy-tails from the willows and they were ready for nesting. 

 I photographed the nest when it had three big pale greenish-blue 

 lusterless eggs in it, and it made an interesting picture. 



Possibly from making use of abandoned nests, as in this case, 

 the Cuckoo gets some of its bad reputation. On Mr. Black's 

 lease, in the last five years, I have seen perhaps a dozen different 

 Cuckoo nests and photographed many of them. In a little red 

 haw-bush, not three feet from the ground, Mr. Black found the 

 lowest of these nests and the most characteristic. It was a mere 

 handful of twigs, loosely laid flat on seemingly the slightest 

 foundation, and dropped into the numerous interstices were 

 maple blossoms for lining. 



In all some half-dozen of the most beautiful nests were re- 

 corded because they contained an unusual number of eggs or for 

 some reason which seemed to me good. I worked for days about 

 a half-dozen more containing young birds up to the day of de- 

 parture. And in all that time I never saw a hint of droppings on 



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