DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE BIRDS 



song, began hunting eagerly for some place to locate 

 a nest. Out in the woodshed I found a box, perhaps 

 six inches square and twice as long. Cutting a small 

 entrance hole on one side, I fastened the box seven 

 or eight feet from the ground on the side of a young 

 tree. The newcomers immediately took possession 

 and began carrying dry grasses into their adopted 

 sanctuary. Several days elapsed and then one morn- 

 ing, while standing on the back of a garden settee 

 and peeping into the hole, I discovered that a pale- 

 blue egg had been laid. When the nest contained 

 four of these little beauties incubation began. 



One rainy night while the mother bird was on 

 duty she must have heard the scratching of claws 

 on the box outside. A moment later two yellow 

 eyes blazed at the entrance and a long arm reached 

 into the nest. The next morning on the grass be- 

 neath the window we found her wing tips and many 

 other fragments of her plumage. All that day the 

 distressed mate flew about the lawn and called con- 

 tinually. He seemed to gather but little food and 

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