A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
549 
NEST BUILDING 
When the spring migration is over, we call those birds 
who have decided to stay with us and build their homes Sum- 
mer Residents, and it is from these that we must learn of the 
home life of birds. 
The visitors who stop a while on their way to other places 
we may learn to call by name, but we can never really know 
them any more than we can a chance visitor who boards a few 
weeks in our vicinity. 
The nesting habits of birds and the manner in which they 
build their homes vary according to the necessity and skill of 
the species. (See “ Citizen Bird,” which may be found in 
Traveling Libraries Nos. 3, 6, 10, 12, 13, 19, 21, 34, 40.) 
In their house-building you will find that the birds know 
almost as many trades as human beings, for among them are 
weavers, basket-makers, masons, and carpenters, as well as 
workers in felt, hair, and feathers. 
Many water birds merely make a hollow in the sand or 
gather a few bits of grass together for a nest. 
The Grouse, Quail, and Woodcock scratch up a few leaves 
in a ground hollow or between stumps, for, like domestic fowl, 
they always nest on the ground, and, their color, being dull, 
blend with it, and you may almost step on one of these birds 
when it is on its nest and never know it. 
The dull-brown Sparrows build nests of grasses set in a 
low bush or between its roots, but the flaming Oriole weaves 
himself a snug hammock high out on a swaying elm bough 
and the Scarlet Tanager builds high in an oak. The Blue Jay 
weaves small roots into a firm nest set well above reach, while 
the Bluebird lines a hollow in a tree or takes an abandoned 
Woodpecker’s hole for his home. The Woodpeckers chisel out 
homes in tree trunks, and Robins and Cliff and Barn Swallows 
use more or less mud, and plaster the inside of their homes. 
In autumn, when the young have flown, you can collect 
many of these nests and study their beautiful workmanship. 
But pray keep your hands off them while they are in use, for 
it is not being either kind or polite to meddle. 
How do you think your mother would feel if somebody 
climbed in at the window and tumbled up your baby brother’s 
crib, perhaps spilling him out on the floor, or at least frighten- 
ing him badly, in order to find out if he slept on a mattress 
