PERCHING BIRDS. 143 



After hatching the brood, the parents perceived 

 ihat the weight of the growing family would 

 soon be too great for the strength of the branch 

 which supported the nest ; in fact, it was begin- 

 ning to give way. Something must be done, 

 or the nest would fall. This was evident to 

 beholders, and equally so to the goldfinches; 

 accordingly, they were seen to fasten, by a small 

 string they had picked up, the bending twig to 

 a higher and stronger branch of the tree, and, 

 by this contrivance their nest was saved. 



Some birds, * which use the same nest for a 

 succession of years, regularly repair them, carry- 

 ing up sticks and sods, etc., for the purpose of 

 enabling them to stand the violence of the winter 

 storms; a mode of proceeding which appears to 

 indicate a remarkable degree of forethought or 

 prospective contrivance. 



Among the warblers may be ranked the wag- 

 tails, the wrens, the chats, and the pipits. Of 

 the true warblers, the well-known prince is the 

 nightingale. 



The WAGTAILS get their name from the remark- 

 able rapid, and almost incessant, motion of their 

 tails. These birds all either leave this country 

 in winter, or remove to different places in it. 



* e. g. Rooks and the Fishing Hawk of America, etc. 



