PHASES OF BIRD LIFE. 1 69 



in a fit of desperation, and singing the lines of Mrs. 

 Browning, — 



" But I love you, sir; 

 And when a woman says she loves a man, 

 The man must hear her, though he love her not." 



II. 



BIRD NURSERIES. 



A bird's nest is a bedroom, dining-room, sitting- 

 room, parlor, and nursery all in one ; for there 

 the young birds sleep, eat, rest, entertain their 

 guests (if they ever have any), and receive their 

 earliest training. Yet there is no doubt that in 

 treating the nest as a nursery we make use of the 

 aptest simile that could be chosen. Those who 

 have not given the matter special attention would 

 scarcely suspect how many and varied are the in- 

 terests that cluster around these dwellings of our little 

 brothers and sisters of field and woodland. The 

 growth of the bantling family, their mental develop- 

 ment, their deportment in the nest, their chirpings 

 and chatterings, their way of beguiling the time, the 

 length of their stay in their childhood home, — all 

 these, and many other problems of equally absorbing 

 interest, can be solved only by the closest surveil- 

 lance. But it is no light task to watch a nest at 

 close enough range to study the natural, unrestrained 

 ways of the young birds. The fact is, in many, 

 perhaps most, cases it cannot be done. 



