118 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
The mother bird has been known to die at the destruc- 
tion of her nest of young. Even in confinement many 
of them show the strongest attachment to those who 
feed and take care of them. 
Many birds not only show great sagacity in the man- 
ner of obtaining their food, but also in the manner of 
preparing it. Sometimes, when it is too dry to be eaten, 
they will moisten it in water; if too hard to be broken 
by the usual process of the beak, they will fly high in 
the air and let it fall on a rock or the hard ground, if 
necessary repeating the experiment several times. In 
building their nests they often exhibit great cunning in 
the curious devices to escape detection. Those that 
make excavations in stubs and trees are careful to 
remove all chips from the premises. All the litter of 
the young of many species is carried away by the par- 
ents and deposited at a safe distance from the premises. 
Their knowledge of color also enables them to seek 
places and materials for their nests harmonizing with 
the general plumage of the sitting bird, thus more easily 
escaping detection by preying enemies. Swallows that 
build well out of reach take no such precautions, neither 
do. orioles and other birds that make dome-like nests in 
which the sitting bird and young are sheltered from 
sight. When the nest is discovered, not less interesting 
are the cunning devices of the sitting bird to allure away 
the discoverer. She will often half run or fly, limping 
and hobbling as though wounded and disabled, appar- 
ently an easy prey to the one in pursuit. You reach 
down to pick her up, but she is just outside your grasp ; 
