24 BIKDS'-NESTING. 



those of the highest organization are the best archi- 

 tects, — and gives us a glimpse of the bird's mind and 

 power to understand and adapt itself to changed con- 

 ditions of life. Over the shape or ornamentation of 

 an egg, the bird has no control, being no more able 

 to govern* the matter than it can the growth of its 

 beak. There is as much difference to me, in the 

 interest inspired, between the nest and the egg 

 of a bird, as between its brain and its skull, — 

 using the word brain to mean the seat of intellect. 

 The nest is always more or less the result of con- 

 scious planning and intelligent work, even though 

 it does follow a hereditary habit in its style ; while 

 the egg is an automatic production, varying, if at 

 all, only as the whole organization of the bird under- 

 goes change. Don't neglect the nests then. In 

 them more than anywhere else lies the key to the 

 mind and thoughts of a bird, — the spirit which in- 

 habits that beautiful frame and bubbles out of that 

 golden mouth. And is it not this inner life, — this 

 human significance in bird-nature, — this soul of or- 

 nithology, that we are all aiming to discover ? 



Nests are beautiful, too. "What can surpass the 

 delicacy of the hummingbird's home, glued to the 

 surface of a mossy branch, or nestling in the warped 

 point of a pendent leaf ; the vireo's silken hammock ; 

 the oriole's gracefully swaying purse; the black- 



