CHAPTER XXVI 
NESTING 
The Nesting Season. — At this season birds are the most 
interesting. Their song, their plumage, and their traits and 
habits are then displayed at their best. Soon after their 
arrival from the south each bird chooses a mate, and the two 
then live and work together throughout the season. Nest- 
ing time comes in the spring and early summer when food for 
the young is most abundant and when there is ample time for 
the young to reach full stature and become strong enough for 
the long journey to the winter home in the south, or for the 
rigors of winter in case of those who do not migrate. 
Nesting Sites. — Nests are built in all kinds of locations 
that afford concealment. Most birds build their nests at a 
distance from others, avoiding their own kind even more care- 
fully than other species; but there are many interesting excep- 
tions to this general practice. Our best example of the more 
sociable birds is the Cliff Swallow whose row of nests under 
the eaves of a barn might be compared to a great tenement 
house in which each family has a room. The other Swallows 
and the Blackbirds are also examples of species nesting in 
colonies that are compact or dense enough for convenient back 
door visits. 
Birds that nest on the ground can find suitable sites with- 
out difficulty, and English Sparrows are willing to take almost 
any kind of place. But many others are not so easily accom- 
modated. Unless we have trees, the Robins and Orioles and 
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