THE DANDELION BURGLAR 173 



variety, but the materials are selected with a defi- 

 nite purpose, a soft, warm bed for the young fledg- 

 lings being the object sought by the parent birds. 

 To this end we find many nests lined with what 

 the ornithologists call " soft downy substances." 

 Examination with a magnifying glass will some- 

 times show us precisely the nature of this down ; 

 whether it consists of wool from a sheep or hair 

 from the deer, 'coon, goat, or horse ; whether it is 

 composed of fuzz from downy leaves or spider- 

 webs, caterpillar hairs, or cottony seeds of plants. 

 These last form a favorite nest lining with a num- 

 ber of birds. 



I remember once finding a beautiful nest of a 

 warbler whose outer wall was strongly woven with 

 strands of milk-weed bark, but the whole interior 

 filled with a felt composed of dandelion seeds, and 

 barely anything else. The nest was old and 

 weather-beaten, and the mass had been reduced 

 to a consistency resembling thick brown paper, 

 with an occasional seed protruding. Originally 

 this soft mass must have been at least a quarter 

 of an inch in thickness. The dandelion seed is 

 an occasional ingredient in many nests. We can 

 readily understand how a bird with an eye to a 

 downy snuggery for her young might be tempted 

 to gather an occasional seed, but it takes a host of 

 dandelion seeds to make a thick cushion such as 

 this which I have mentioned, and we might well 



