6 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



gathered from the bark and roots of the trees, and 

 your curiosity will be aroused and you will wonder 

 what accident tilled all these birds' nests; but, when 

 you attempt to investigate more closely and by 

 chance touch the branch upon which the nest rests, 

 you will probably be surprised to see a little brown 

 animal pop out of the nest, run up on the end of 

 the branch and sit there looking at you with his 

 little beady eyes as if he were inquiring why you 

 interrupted his slumbers. 



Should you care to venture through the cat- 

 briers and if you are not deterred by fear of the 

 poisonous sap of the white sumac, you may be re- 

 warded by seeing many of these nimble-footed, 

 bright-eyed little tenants of last year's .birds' nests, 

 as they leap from their cosy quarters, alarmed by 

 the rude swaying of the branches upon which their 

 hanging home rests. If you are a true woodsman, 

 and know how to assume a pose in which you can 

 keep perfectly quiet and still for a long time, you 

 will see little white-footed mice run back to their 

 homes, where they may easily be captured by plac- 

 ing your handerchief over the nest and taking the 

 house and tenants together. 



One Sunday I examined twenty or more birds' 

 nests that I found in the low bushes of a bit of 

 swamp land, only two of which had not been 



REMODELED BY THE LITTLE ARCHITECTS. 



I made careful sketches of these nests, repro- 

 ductions of which accompany this article. One 



