Sea Swallows 



the lower grade of intelligence of birds that are 

 so careless or apparently clumsy in their archi- 

 tecture. As we shall see in a later chapter, 

 perhaps this is so, and perhaps it isn't. Among 

 land birds, ornithologists place thrushes at the 

 top of the list, in the scale of development ; 

 yet their nests are very clumsy, compared with 

 the workmanship of some of the inferior fami- 

 lies of songsters, as well as of some that are 

 below the range of any of the song birds, like 

 phcebes and humming-birds. May be nests 

 are something like handwriting; sometimes 

 you think you can read character from it ; and 

 sometimes you find you can't. 



At the time of my visit the eggs were being 

 laid, but none were yet hatched. The nests con- 

 tained from one to four, with a little variation 

 in size, but generally about an inch and a half 

 long. Audubon says there are never more than 

 three eggs in a set, but I found one nest, and 

 only one, with four. The markings are brown 

 and brownish-black splashes all over the surface, 

 and the ground tint varies from dirty brown to 

 almost lilac. As a class they are not as pretty as 

 the majority of eggs ; but possibly their dingy 

 color conduces to their safety by blending with 

 the dull surroundings. My friend on the island 



I3« 



