Song Birds and Water Fowl 



from the ground; and, in explanation, the 

 owner of the island fold him that, "When I first 

 came here, many years ago, they all built their 

 nests on the moss and in open ground ; but as 

 my sons and the fishermen collected most of 

 their eggs for winter use, and sadly annoyed 

 the poor things, the old ones gradually began 

 to put their nests on the trees in the thickest 

 parts of the woods, while the youngest birds 

 still have some on the ground. ' ' On some ad- 

 joining islands, to which fishermen and eggers 

 had free access, Audubon afterward found 

 that the gulls were nesting entirely in trees. 

 The ground was first chosen, as being amply 

 sufficient in this remote region ; but when cir- 

 cumstances made this location dangerous, they 

 resorted to the trees ; which seems to summar- 

 ize the whole problem. 



Since writing the foregoing, I have found a 

 rather strong corroboration of the argument, in 

 the record of a naturalist concerning a peculiar 

 nest of the red-winged blackbird, which he had 

 discovered. The nest of this bird is commonly 

 on the ground, or in low bushes, and, as the 

 books describe it, is "rather bulky, and not 

 at all artistic." But the writer states that he 

 had found one that was "placed on a slender 



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