THE LIFE OF BIRDS 141 
of nature, claiming more kindred with the very 
stones than with feathery existence ; and it is 
as if a pearl opened and an angel sang. 
The nest which is to contain these fair things 
is a wonderful study also, from the coarse 
masonry of the Robin to the soft structure of 
the Hummingbird, a baby house among nests. 
Among all created things, the birds come near- 
est to man in their domesticity. Their unions are 
usually in pairs, and for life; and with them, 
unlike the practice of most quadrupeds, the 
male labors for the young. He chooses the 
locality of the nest, aids in its construction, 
and fights for it, if needful. He sometimes 
assists in hatching the eggs. He feeds the 
brood with exhausting labor, like yonder Robin, 
whose winged picturesque day is spent in put- 
ting worms into- insatiable beaks, at the rate of 
one morsel in every three minutes. He has to 
teach them to fly, as among the Swallows, or 
even to hunt, as among the Hawks. His life is 
anchored to his home. Yonder Oriole fills with 
light and melody the thousand branches of a 
neighborhood ; and yet the centre for all this 
divergent splendor is always that one drooping 
dome upon one chosen tree. This he helped 
to build in May, confiscating cotton as if he 
were an army provost-marshal, and singing 
many songs, with his mouth full of plunder; - 
