532 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



aiforded by its blue bill and eyelids with the golden yellow of 

 its head and breast. 



When the bird builds her nest, she places it in the foot of a 

 shrub, either among briars or under them, and weaves its outer 

 walls of vegetable fibre, using flax or tow whenever she can 

 find it. The walls of the nest are strongly made, and woven 

 firmly into the twigs that support it. When she has finished 

 the outer nest, the bird goes to the fields, and carries off the hair 

 of cattle and other animals, and weaves them into a lining, which 

 is made softer and warmer by the downy hairs which grow on 

 the stems of certain fcrn-s, and which the bird plucks off with 

 great address. 



It is not only a pretty, but an useful and interesting bird. It 

 is useful, because it is one of the insect-eaters, and may be con- 

 stantly seen at work among the leaves, picking up the little 

 green caterpillars which destroy the trees, and which form its 

 chief food. Moreover, it brings up two broods of young during 

 the year, each brood being four or five in number, so that the 

 havoc which it makes among the caterpillars may be imagined. 

 It is interesting, on account of the love which it bears towards 

 its young, and its undaunted courage in defending them. When 

 it is free from the cares of a family, it is as timid as any other 

 bird, and makes the best of its way from the danger. But if its 

 nest be approached while the eggs or young are still in it, the 

 little bird seems to lose all fear, and devotes itself to the task 

 of decoying away the approaching foe. It pretends to be very 

 ill or lame, stretches out its neck, trails its wings, drops its tail, 

 and flutters feebly along the branches, in order to delude the 

 enemy into an idea that it is so lame, that it can easily be 

 caught. The male is even a greater adept than the female at 

 this practice, and, if he thinks that he has not decoyed the 

 intruder far enough, he will slip through the branches, fly round, 

 and repeat the process. 



Another North American bird is a mighty nest-maker, trust- 

 ing for safety to the inaccessible natm-e of the tree on which its 

 home is placed. This is the well-known Bald-headed Eagle, 

 sometimes called the Bird of Washington {Falco Iciicocephalus), 

 which has been accepted as the emblem of the United States of 

 America. The nest of this bird has been admirably described by 



