BIRD CRADLES. 



105 



often lay bare the interior? How else the bird could procure the 

 material is a mystery. 



The "cat-tail" offers an inexhaustible store of down to the 

 later nest-builders. Packed with incredible compactness in its 

 cylindrical equilibrium, when once ruptured the keystone among 

 the feathered seeds once removed, as it were what a revelation! 

 The magician's inexhaustible hat is not a cir- 

 cumstance to it. Rolling out in fluffy masses, 

 a very effervescence of down, which seems to 

 multiply to infinity even after launching in 

 the air. Unless my estimate of bird-wisdom 

 is much overwrought, it rinds its way into 

 many a warm nest, even though gleaned from 

 the last year's stalks. 



But it is not alone to the soft seeds of 

 plants that the nests are indebted for their 

 downy lining. If the home of the yellow 

 warbler is a chef cCceuvre 

 what shall be said of this, 



the work of the small 

 blue-gray gnatcatcher, 

 one of the most refined 

 art treasures among our 

 native nests ? It is usu- 

 ally hung among the twigs 

 of a tree, somewhat like that 

 of a vireo, though sometimes placed 

 on a branch. The body of the 

 nest is closely felted together with 

 14 



THE DANDELION MYSTERY SOLVED. 



