HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



CHAPTER I 

 BEGINNINGS OF BIRD STUDY 



ONE auspicious day in June I discovered a 

 hummingbird's nest. I was a small boy, 

 and lived in a suburb of Boston called Rox- 

 bury, near the edge of Brookline, on a fine old colo- 

 nial estate, where the new Harvard Medical School 

 buildings now stand. There were six acres of lawn, 

 garden, shrubbery, and orchard, overarched by great 

 elms and other shade trees. On one side of the 

 house was a row of alternate Norway spruce and 

 larch trees. A tiny hummingbird had been visiting 

 the flowers about the house, and one day I saw her 

 fly to her nest out near the end of one of the lower 

 branches of the first larch tree. There were young 

 in it at this particular time, but within a few days 

 they had departed, and I brought a step-ladder and 

 took down the nest. Never can I forget my feelings 

 of wonder and admiration as I gazed upon the ex- 

 quisite little cup built of silky fibers, coated with 

 lichens. It was a revelation of loveliness which laid 



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