The Building of the Nest 95 



their breasts, I think, and give the structure 

 a shower-like wetting from time to time. 

 At last the structure "sets" and is pra&ically 

 permanent. 



There are birds that build no nests, like 

 the kill-deer plover and the woodcock, and 

 yet they exercise a faculty of equal value in- 

 tellectually ; for to be able to locate a spot 

 that will be in the least degree exposed to 

 danger is a power of no mean grade. The 

 kill-deer will place its eggs on sloping ground, 

 but somehow the heaviest dashes of rain do 

 not wash out that particular spot. There 

 are sand-pipers that lay their eggs on a bit 

 of dead grass, just out of reach of the highest 

 tides. As we look at such nests y we con- 

 clude that the birds trust a great deal to good 

 luck ; but, as a matter of faft, the destru&ion 

 of eggs when in no nests, or next to none, is 

 very small. Why, on the other hand, wood 

 peckers should go to such an infinity of trouble 

 to whittle a nest in the firm tissue of a living 

 tree, when a natural hollow would serve as 

 well, is a problem past finding out. I have 

 even seen a woodpecker make a new nest in 

 a tree which already contained one in every 

 respeft as good. 



