WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



Our hang-nest has enough discernment to select 

 the safest and best site for a nest ever chosen by a 

 tree-building bird. He has sufficient discretion to 

 inhabit trees where his young will be least exposed 

 to birds of prey. He has sense and skill enough 

 to build a warm or cool house to suit the climate 

 a deep and tight one where the sun shines brightly, 

 and sharp eyes might see the orange coat of him- 

 self or his mate within, and a loose and (in labor) 

 less expensive one where deep shadows hide it. 

 Surely, then, this consummate workman has in- 

 genuity enough to put a roof over his dwelling to 

 shed the rain and the hawk's glances, leaving only 

 a little door in the side. Both of these things the 

 hang-nest actually does. I myself have seen a 

 nest of his making, over the open top of which a 

 broad leaf had been bent down and tied by glu- 

 tinous threads in such a way as to make a good 

 portico. Mr. Thomas Gentry found a much more 

 complete example at Germantown (Philadelphia), 

 Pennsylvania, where the orioles " were constrained 

 to erect a permanent roof to their dwelling by in- 

 terwoven strings through the deprivation of the 

 verdant and agreeable canopy which the leaves 

 would naturally afford. ... So nicely is the roof 

 adjusted that even the most critical investigation 

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