THE BUILDING OF THE NEST. 143 



house and down in the chimney ; under the floor 

 of the bridge in the lane is a nest, and the trees, 

 shrubbery, and bare ground are all occupied. 

 There is now a nest for every nook and cor- 

 ner, and I would that the young people of every- 

 where were my guests to-day, provided they 

 would live up to the law I long ago passed for 

 my own government eyes on ; hands off. 



And now what of the building of particular 

 nests ? I know of twenty within a stone's-throw 

 of my front door, and the making of each one 

 had its serious as well as comic side. At the 

 very outset a conflict of interests arose on ac- 

 count of some bits of material being equally val- 

 uable in the minds of several birds ; and when 

 an oriole, a wren, and an English sparrow wish 

 to pull at the frayed end of a rope at the same 

 time, something more than a mere ripple of ex- 

 citement is likely to ensue. In short, nest-build- 

 ing brings out in a bird not only all its belliger- 

 ency, which during the rest of the year is dor- 

 mant, but a great deal of strategic skill as well, 

 for many a time I have seen the smaller bird suc- 

 ceed through cunning in outwitting the bully 

 that depended on mere strength of beak and 

 claws. 



The burden of each bird's mind in spring 

 being, "I must build me a nest," let us follow 

 the wakeful wren that came on a stormy morn- 



