THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 

 stems of water plants, not bent over, but severed 

 from their roots and piled across one another. On 

 this platform is collected decaying vegetation gath- 

 ered from beneath the water. Here the eggs are 

 deposited, and are carefully covered with more 

 decaying vegetation when the bird desires to be 

 absent from the nest. 



Variation in Families. — Sometimes there is wide 

 variety in the character of the nests of different 

 species classified as belonging to the same family. 

 The Flycatcher group is a good example of this fact. 

 Here we have as one member of the family the King- 

 bird, that makes a heavy bulky nest often on one of 

 the upper, outermost limbs of an apple tree. The 

 Wood Pewee's nest is a frail, shallow excuse for a 

 nest, resting securely on a horizontal limb of some 

 well-grown tree. Then there is the Phoebe, that 

 plasters its cup-shaped mass of nesting material 

 with mud, thus securing it to a rafter or other pro- 

 jection beneath a bridge, outbuilding, or porch roof. 

 Still farther away from the typical Flycatcher's 

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