46 
BIRD CRADLES. 
beds of tbe wrens, the curled-hair mat¬ 
tress of the chipping sparrow, the bas¬ 
ket cribs of the starlings among the 
rushes, the mossy snuggeries of the 
oven bird, and the adobe of swallow, 
phcebe, and robin, with their various 
In the Track of the Coon. 
(A Vireo searching for hairs for uest-lininc 
jDreferences of pine-roots, bark, strings, 
feathers, hornet’s nest, cateri^illar hairs, 
wool, skeletonized leaves, cobwebs, sj)!- 
der-egg tufts, fur of various animals, 
loappus of seeds of all sorts—dandelion, 
thistle, cat-tail willow—gleaned from the 
thickets, the trees, the air, the 
barnyard, the stable, the 230 ul- 
try-j'^ard, even from your ves¬ 
tibule door-mat or window¬ 
sill. 
The individual jji'eferences 
of a few of our more common 
birds alford a number of inter¬ 
esting facts, “ When I want a 
horse - hair for my comjJass- 
sight,” says Thoreau, “I must 
go to the stable ; but the hair- 
bird, with her sharj) eyes, goes 
to the road.” The nest of the 
chipjiing S2)arrow is common¬ 
ly lined with horse-hair, a 
fact which has won the 
name of hair-bird to the 
sjoecies; although sev¬ 
eral others of the spar¬ 
rows, notabl}" the field 
sparrow an d song- 
sparrow, are equally 
partial to this j)articu- 
lar car2)et for their 
nursery. Burroughs 
recounts the bold in¬ 
cident of a sj) arrow 
picking a hair from 
the body of a 
horse. Who 
ever sees a 
coon-hair in 
the woods ? 
And yet here 
is the soli¬ 
tary vireo 
that gleans 
in the craf¬ 
ty trail of 
that animal, 
through fern 
and brier 
and hollow 
logs, and 
rarely fails to 
feather h e r 
nest Avith the 
soft fur. 
What is the 
secret of this 
