THE LIFE ABOUT THE NEST 

 brown inner layer with which the nest is lined. 

 Many of the Thrushes make use of large flat leaves, 

 and also of rags and pieces of paper. Robins stiffen 

 their nests by making in them a substantial cup of 

 mud, which, when dry, adds greatly to the solidity 

 of the structure. On the island of Cape Hatteras 

 there are many sheep, and many Prairie Warblers 

 of the region make their nests entirely of wool 



The most dainty structure built, in this country, 

 by the bill and feet of birds, is the nest made by the 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird. When completed it 

 is scarcely larger than an English walnut, and is 

 saddled on a small horizontal limb of a tree, often 

 many feet from the ground. It is composed almost 

 entirely of soft plant fibres, fragments of spiders' 

 webs sometimes being used to hold them in shape. 

 The outer sides are thickly studded with bits of 

 lichen, and practised, indeed, is the eye of the man or 

 woman that can distinguish it from a knot on a 

 limb. Although the Hummingbird's nest is exceed- 

 ingly frail, there is nothing on record to show that 

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