Great-crest is a character, one of the most 

 individual of all our birds. What other bird 

 lines his nest with snake-skins? or hangs such 

 gruesome things out for latch-strings? He has 

 taken up his residence among us, but he has 

 given us pretty plainly to understand that we 

 need not call, else I mistake the hint in the 

 scaly skin that dangles from his door. The 

 strong personality of the bird is stamped even 

 upon its eggs. Where are any to match them 

 for curious, crazy coloring? The artist had 

 purple inks, shading all the way from the deep- 

 est chestnut-purple to the faintest lilac. With 

 a sharp pen he scratched the shell from end to 

 end with all his colors till it was covered, then 

 finished it off with a few wild flourishes and 

 crosswise scrawls. 



Like the birds of the orchards and buildings, 

 the field-birds also are yielding to human influ- 

 ences. We can almost say that we have an 

 order of farm-birds, so many species seem to 

 have become entirely dependent upon the pas- 

 ture and grain-field. 



"Where did Bobolink disport himself before 

 there were meadows in the North and rice- 

 [89] 



