NEST-HUNTING. 93 



cream of its history ; " than which nothing could be 

 truer or more aptly expressed. 



No wonder the poets have so often been thrown 

 into lyrical moods over the homesteads of the birds ! 

 Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster's poem on "The Build- 

 ing of the Nest '' is perhaps not unfamiliar to most 

 readers ; but one stanza is so graceful and rhythmi- 

 cal that it begs for quotation at this point : — 



" They '11 come again to the apple-tree — 

 Robin and all the rest — 

 When the orchard branches are fair to see 



In the snow of blossoms dressed, 

 And the prettiest thing in the world will be 

 The building of the nest." 



In one of my rambles I found an abandoned 

 towhee bunting's nest containing three eggs, and 

 could not help speculating as to the cause of its 

 desertion. Might there have been a quarrel 

 between husband and wife, making a separation 

 necessary? I am loath to believe it, although, if 

 certain acute observers are correct, divorce is not 

 wholly unknown in the bird community. But in 

 this case I am inclined to think that some enemy 

 had destroyed the female, for a male flitted about 

 in the bushes, calling a good deal and singing at 

 intervals, and there seemed to be a plaintive note 

 in his song, as if he might be chanting an elegy. 

 At all events, the pair that built the nest had had 

 their tragedy. 



Every bird-student must admit that his quest for 

 nests often ends in disappointment, because many 



