SOME NOTABLE NESTS. 



The Clymer boys and girls, of Clover- 

 dale, New England, belonged to a Bird 

 Club ; they were proposed to membership 

 by their neighbors, the Walkers ; in fact, 

 the two families composed the club, and 

 it partook of the nature of a secret so- 

 ciety. 



All this was before the young people 

 of Cloverdale knew of Clark University, 

 and Dr. Hodges' 'Ten to One Clubs," 

 wherein the members pledged themselves 

 to strive by all imaginable means — pro- 

 vided they were also practical — to induce 

 ten song birds to live and sing each year, 

 where only one was found the year be- 

 fore. 



It was not necessary for the Cloverdale 

 Club to put up carefully constructed and 

 artistic bird houses, or to hang cotton 

 and the like fine nest-building materials 

 in choicest ornamental shade trees — not 

 at all. The English Sparrow had not found 

 the village in those days ; the song birds 

 were there, they knew all the good loca- 

 tions and just where to find the best stuffs 

 for constructing, furnishing and decorat- 

 ing their homes ; the work of the club 

 was to find these homes, 'to study them, 

 with the ways and habits of their occu- 

 pants, and to record their discoveries in 

 a big book labeled, "Things Not Gener- 

 ally Known." 



Many of the statements in this book 

 were as broad and conclusive as scien- 

 tific dogmas, but the Cloverdale Club did 

 not waste its time searching for hundreds 

 of instances to establish a single truth ; 

 one was enough to be worthy of record ; 

 then, if some time the big book should be 

 given to the public, and some naturalist 

 or investigator should choose to confirm 

 its statements by patient research, of 

 course he would be welcome so to do. 

 The club had the distinction of discov- 

 ery, that was enough. 



One interesting item recorded was 

 this : "Birds — such as Orioles — who 

 build in conspicuous places, like to dec- 

 orate the outside of their nests, and in so 



doing are known to use manufactured 

 materials and patterns." Strange state- 

 ment, but of course thereby hangs a tale, 

 and here it is. 



At the spring house-cleaning time, 

 Mrs. Clymer had the big, bright sitting- 

 room carpet taken out under one of the 

 old colonial elms, at the east of the house, 

 to be cleaned. Mrs. Baltimore Oriole 

 was up in the elm that morning looking 

 for a building spot that should be a bit 

 superior to the old one ; she had spent 

 three summers in that tree, was familiar 

 with the ways of the club, and habits of 

 the family; like the birds of Eugene 

 Field's boyhood, "she knew her business 

 when she built the old fire-hang-bird's 

 nest." 



No one was near when Mrs. Oriole 

 fixed her eyes on the great red, green 

 and white ingrain carpet, and admired it ; 

 what she thought we know not, but when 

 she glanced at the hitching post under 

 the tree, she instantly descended from 

 high, waving branch, to lowly square 

 post, for exactly covering the top of the 

 same was a miniature carpet, a piece just 

 six by six inches which Patrick should 

 have left indoors ; not having done so, he 

 laid it on the inviting post for safe-keep- 

 ing. That bit of wool fabric was very 

 valuable, it exactly filled a jog right by 

 the fireplace, in which, alas ! ever after 

 was seen an ugly piece of oil cloth ! 



All summer long the club girls and 

 boys gazed with wonder at the gay nest 

 in the elm, hanging like a solitary blos- 

 som among the leaves ; their speculations 

 about it would fill a long chapter ; but 

 after the birds were flown far to the south, 

 and the leaves were gone, that nest was 

 finally cut down and told its story : thread 

 by thread, just as pulled from the bit of 

 carpet, had been woven into a decoration 

 for the outer wall of that hanging house, 

 till a rude reproduction of the original 

 tiny rug was under the feet of the bird- 

 lings, and over the heads of the boys. 



The club held a special exhibition of 



149 



