LOVE-MAKING AND HOME-BUILDING 



too wise to select for their homes a tree with a 

 natural cavity. Their choice falls upon one that 

 " has been dead just long enough to have become 

 brittle throughout." 



How wonderful is the economy of nature! 

 After the woodpeckers have had their one-season 

 lease of a house their cousins, the nut-hatches, 

 chickadees, and brown creepers " fall heir " to the 

 nests. " These birds, especially the creepers and 

 nut-hatches, have many of the habits of the pic- 

 idae, but lack their powers of bill, and so are una- 

 ble to excavate a nest for themselves. Their hab- 

 itation, therefore, is always second-hand. But 

 each species carries in some soft material of va- 

 rious kinds, or, in other words, furnishes the ten- 

 ement to its liking." * 



Now our feathered friend halts and examines 

 his work. See him as with head drawn back he 

 critically surveys the growing excavation, first 

 from this side and then from that, as a Turner 

 might inspect a painting or a Worth a " creation." 

 I fancy that no little complacency enters into the 

 architect's contemplation of his own workman- 

 ship. False humility will not interfere with his 

 appreciation of its good points, neither will foolish 



* Mr. John Burroughs, in Wake Robin. 



[H7] 



