One Year 25 Cents Single Copy 3 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubr ;i Society, at Appleton, Wisconsin. 
Entered as second-class matter May 16, 1904 at Appleton, Wis., under the act of Congress of Mar. 3, ’79. 
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‘VOL. IX. OCTOBER, 1905. NO 4 
A Humming Bird's Nest. 
The pleasure of finding a humming 
bird’s nest is given to but few. • Mabel 
Osgood Wright, in her “Citizen Bird,” 
tells of finding four nests in her garden, 
but she, indeed, is among the chosen few. 
The one I am going to tell you about was 
found at Bayport, Long Island, by a party 
of art students. It is a dear little ball of 
plant fiber and lichen. It is about an 
inch and a half in diameter and the 
opening in it is much smaller. The in¬ 
terior is so soft that it can hardly be felt 
and is a rich brown in color, just about 
the shade of the downy covering of the 
early ferns. The outside is covered by 
lichen which is glued on in the most ar¬ 
tistic manner and the shades are beauti¬ 
fully chosen to match the silvery green 
of the leaves of the old apple tree in 
which it was found. There was great 
excitement among the bird lovers the 
day it was found. Someone heard a 
humming sound over head and looked 
up in time to see the bird settle onto its 
nest. Her breast went down into the 
opening and her head and tail £tuck up 
together. After the first time they never 
caught her in the act of returning. She 
would bide her time and the first thing 
they would know she would be there. 
The nest was in a small crotch so close 
to the ground that by giving a slight 
spring the limb could be caught and the 
nest brought to the level of the eyes, but 
this rough method of inspecting the pri¬ 
vate family life was not indulged in. 
One girl, more inquisitive than the rest, 
mounted a stool and looked in at one 
tiny egg about the size of one common 
navy bean. At last a time came when 
the mother bird was not seen about its 
home. Thinking that the nest was 
abandoned Miss Inquisitive again 
mounted her stool and there lav the 
tiniest bird, less than an inch long. It 
looked dead but a gentle poke on its bill 
sent the whole thing squirming. After 
that it was left in peace until the one 
fledgling flew away. Then the nest was 
gathered in, crotch and all, before the 
rain could destroy it, for moisture soon 
dissolves the glutinous substance which 
holds the materials together. That is 
one reason why so few old nests are 
found. This one was packed in a box 
and brought clear to Wisconsin where 
it has the place of honor on our library 
table. 
E. S. E. 
An Albino Robin. 
A short time ago I saw a very interest¬ 
ing specimen of bird which it may inter¬ 
est Wayside readers to hear about. This 
was an albino robin which was hatched 
in a nest on the window sill of a house 
near my home. When the robin was 
about a week old the mistress of the 
house spoke to her husband about there 
being a white robin in the nest; but as 
he had never heard of such a thing be¬ 
fore, he laughed and said it would prob- 
