birds' eggs 71 



oar birds, and, with all its speed and marvel- 

 ous evolutions, the effect of its flight is stiff and 

 wiry. There appears to be but one joint in 

 the wmg, and that next the body. This pecu- 

 liar inflexible motion of the wings, as if they 

 were little sickles of sheet iron, seems to be 

 owing to the length and development of the 

 primary quills and the smallness of the secon- 

 dary. The wing appears to hinge only at the 

 wrist. The barn swallow lines its rude ma- 

 sonry with feathers, but the swift begins life on 

 bare twigs, glued together by a glue of home 

 manufacture as adhesive as Spaulding's. 



I have wondered if Emerson referred to any 

 particular bird in these lines from "The Prob- 

 lem. " 



"Know'st thou what wove yon wood-bird's nest 

 O^ leaves, and feathers from her breast ? " 



Probably not, but simply availed himself of 

 the general belief that certain birds or fowls 

 lined their nests with their own feathers. This 

 is notably true of the eider duck, and in a 

 measure of our domestic fowls, but so far as I 

 know is not true of any of our small birds. 

 The barn swallow and house Avren feather their 

 nests at the expense of the hens and geese. 

 The winter wren picks up the feathers of the 

 ruffed grouse. The chickadee, Emerson's 

 favorite bird, uses a few feathers in its uphol- 

 stering, but not its own. In England, I 

 noticed that the little willow warbler makes a 

 free use of feathers from the poultry yard. 

 Many of our birds use hair in their nests, and 



