An Original Design in Bird Nest 
Architecture. 
BY EDWIN A. FIELD, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
The average man or woman looks 
for little originality among the birds. 
Feathered life is commonly supposed 
to be a cut-and-dried affair, guided by 
instinct along a fated path that leaves 
little room for intelligence or original- 
ity. Even the most casual observer of 
birds, however, must be impressed by 
the fact that the accompanying illus- 
REMARKABLY “ORIGINAL” NEST, 
tration gives some rather striking evi- 
dence of talents akin to genius. 
Here is a nest that was discovered 
this fall by Albert F. Sickma of Hol- 
yoke, Massachusetts, near the top of Mt. 
Tom, one of the famous members of 
the picturesque Holyoke range. While 
the nest is constructed along the cus- 
tomary lines in its final processes, its 
foundation is remarkable for its origi- 
nality. We find it difficult to believe 
that this originality was without de- 
liberate design. 
As discovered by Mr. Sickma, the 
nest was securely lodged, about twelve 
feet above the ground, in a four- 
pronged fork of a small tree, where it 
rested upon a soft mattress of inter- 
twined strips of paper napkins and 
waxed paper, the long ends of which 
hung down a foot and a half below the 
nest and fluttered in the wind like 
white festoons. Some of this paper has 
been woven into the body of the nest 
itself along with other fantastic ma- 
terials like paper lace from candy boxes 
and even soda water straws, the pro- 
truding ends of which may be plainly 
seen. 
Whether used by the builders as 
decorations, as camouflage or as a 
means of frightening away their ene- 
mies, these paper trimmings are plain- 
ly the remains of numerous basket pic- 
nics. The summit of Mt. Tom, near 
which the nest was found, is a popu- 
lar place for summer outings. The 
birds who invented this new type of 
nest, therefore, had plenty of material 
at hand with which to experiment. 
The designers had apparently gone 
south for the winter when their handi- 
work was discovered and it was, of 
course, impossible to interview them 
as to their motives in building such an 
unusual home. Perhaps they had no 
motive other than to build a nest in 
which to rear their young. They may 
have used the paper foundation by 
chance because it happened to be 
handy. The manner in which this paper 
was utilized, however, is so unique as 
to make a strong appeal to the imagina- 
tion. It seems to indicate that the 
feathered builders responsible for this 
ingenious piece of work really did have 
ideas of their own. 
In order to preserve the nest in its 
entirety, Mr. Sickma was permitted to 
cut away the whole branch containing 
the festooned structure, and he has 
presented the curiosity to the Spring- 
field Museum of Natural History. He 
said he believed the nest had belonged 
to an aristocratic wood thrush family. 
