556 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



When the nest is placed on the ground, it is composed of a 

 few rushes and grass-stems, the chief care of the bird being to 

 secure a soft lining of grass-blades. When it is built in a grass 

 or rush tussock, the stems are drawn together and held in their 

 places by long grasses, so as to make a hollow wherein the nest 

 may repose. 



But when it is placed on a branch it is much more compli- 

 cated. The bushes which are found in swampy places are always 

 so slender and flexible that much care is required in order to 

 render them capable of bearing the nest. The bird, therefore, 

 takes a quantity of wet rushes and long grasses, and twists them 

 round a number of twigs, intertwining them so as to bring these 

 twigs into a rudely-shaped hollow cylinder. From the same ma- 

 terials the body of the nest is formed, and the lining is made 

 from dry grass-blades. Little pains are taken to hide the nest, 

 because the swampy nature of the ground prevents the intrusion 

 of many foes, and in some cases three or four nests are seen close 

 to each other on a single bush. 



One of the common American birds, the Yellow-breasted 

 Chat (Icteria viridis), is not only remarkable for its really pretty 

 nest, but for the manner in which it defends its home. 



Although so chary of being seen that an experienced ornithol- 

 ogist may follow it for an hour by its voice, and never catch a 

 glimpse of the bird, it is full of talk, and as soon as a human 

 being approaches, it begins to vociferate reproaches in an odd 

 series of syllabic sounds, which can be easily imitated. Mocking 

 the bird is an unfailing method of doubling its anger, and will 

 cause it to follow the imitator for a long distance, although it 

 will, even under these circumstances, keep itself hidden in the 

 foliage. Wilson's account of the curious sounds which it utters 

 is very graphic and interesting. "On these occasions his re- 

 sponses are constant and rapid, strongly expressive of anger and 

 anxiety, and while the bird itself remains unseen, the voice shifts 

 from place to place among the bushes, as if it proceeded from a 

 spirit. First is heard a repetition of short notes, resembling the 

 whistling of the wings of a duck or teal, beginning loud and 

 rapid, and falling lower and lower, till they end in detached 

 notes. Then a succession of others, something like the barking 

 of young puppies, is followed by a variety of hollow, guttural 

 sounds, each eight or ten times repeated, more like those proceed- 



