320 LAND BIRDS 



a change of degree rather than kind. He becomes more 

 noisy, and the combat with his former comrades is no 

 longer for mere fun but for a lady's favor. If it must 

 be won by war, he is ready ; if not — well, he has 

 already selected a snug spot in an oak tree, protected 

 from wind and weather by a broad trunk and heavy foli- 

 age, — a charming place for a nest. Will Madam look 

 at it ? A few days later both are seen bringing twigs, 

 rootlets, paper, rags, — anything in fact that she fancies 

 and can carry and weave into the characteristic structure. 

 Around the top, on the outside, she will, if possible, 

 weave dull-colored but never black feathers in an upright 

 position curving inward over the cradle. Now, it may 

 be that these are intended for ornament; but as they 

 wave rakishly in the wind, they serve the double pur- 

 pose of somewhat protecting the eggs and young and 

 rendering it almost impossible for an observer to tell 

 from below whether or not the mother is brooding. So 

 whenever there is a chicken yard within a hundred yards 

 of the nest tree, feathers will adorn the nest. Inside it 

 is lined with a felted mat of cow hair, wool, or some 

 warm material or vegetable fibre. In a week it is com- 

 pleted, and an egg is laid each day thereafter until there 

 are four. By this time the gay bachelor has become a 

 model benedict, bringing the little mother moths, dragon- 

 flies, ants, caterpillars, big black crickets without num- 

 ber, and bees, — the drones, rarely the workers. When 

 she leaves home for a short outing, he sits near the nest 

 watching with a great show of alertness, but not daring 

 in his masculine awkwardness to brood those precious 



