THE BIRDS 117 



you come anywhere near them. You cannot watch 

 them from your window, for they always choose a 

 leafy bower in which to build. The leaves make a 

 nice roof to keep the rain away from their babies 

 and also a screen to keep away prying eyes. 



The Baltimore oriole hangs its woven nest. from 

 the drooping ends of branches in a place that seems 

 quite perilous. Yet it is really very safe, for scarcely 

 an enemy can reach it, and even severe winter storms 

 do not tear it down. How prettily it is made of the 

 milk-weed fiber, with string looped through and 

 through it. And how warm and soft it is inside where 

 the baby orioles will soon hatch out of the little eggs. 



Robins are not such careful builders as the orioles 

 and the chipping-sparrows, and their nests are not 

 so pretty. They make the outside of dry grass and 

 straw, then plaster it with mud. But the inside is 

 all lined with horse-hair and it is smooth and soft. 



Neither are the robins as timid as the chipping- 

 sparrows. They often come and build upon your 

 piazza. They will even make the nest while you 

 sit there, if you are very quiet. But you must be 

 intent upon your own work and not curious about 

 theirs or they will fly away with the pieces of straw, 

 or they may hop about the lawn scolding you until 

 you stop looking at them. Then they will come so 

 silently, with the bits of straw and the mouthfuls 

 of mud, and directly before you they will make 

 their nest without your being able to tell how they 

 do it; for if you watch them, away they fly. 



Birds are not so very unlike us, are they? For it 

 often distresses us to be watched too closely while 



