240 A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GKASS 



and in binding and compacting the rim, making 

 the sides and bottom of hemp, leaving it thin 

 and airy, much more so than are the same nests 

 with us. No other bird would, perhaps, have 

 used such brilliant material; their instincts of 

 concealment would have revolted, but the oriole 

 aims more to make its nest inaccessible than to 

 hide it. Its position and depth insure its safety. 

 The red-headed woodpecker was about the 

 only bird of this class I saw, and it was very 

 common. Almost any moment, in riding along, 

 their conspicuous white markings as they flew 

 from tree to tree were to be seen festooning the 

 woods. Yet I was told that they were far less 

 numerous than formerly. Governor Knott said 

 he believed there were ten times as many when 

 he was a boy as now. But what beautiful 

 thing is there in this world that was not ten 

 times more abundant when one was a boy than 

 he finds it on becoming a man? Youth is the 

 principal factor in the problem. If one could 

 only have the leisure, the alertness, and the 

 freedom from care that he had when a boy, he 

 Avould probably find that the world had not de- 

 teriorated so much as he is apt to suspect. 



The field or meadow bird, everywhere heard 

 in Kentucky and Illinois, is the black- throated 

 bunting, a heavy-beaked bird the size and color 

 of an English sparrow, with a harsh, rasping 

 song, which it indulges in incessantly. Among 

 bird-songs it is like a rather coarse weed among 

 our wild-flowers. 



I could not find the mocking-bird in song, 



