THE NEST.

CHAPTER I.

ACTIVITY OF SPRING-VARIETY OF NESTS THE ROBIN-THE PARTRIDGE-THE OSTRICH-THE LARK-THE GOLDEN EAGLE -THE WOOD-PIGEON-THE WINDOW-SWALLOW-THE SANDMARTIN-THE SPARROW-THE WHITE OWL-THE BURROWING OWL-THE THRUSH-THE WOODPECKER-THE WREN-THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN-THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD -THE RAVEN-THE MAGPIE-THE JAY-THE SWALLOW-THE ROOK.

SPRING is a season of great activity. No sooner have the trees put forth their leaves, than millions of birds commence their labours. Here they may be observed bringing long pieces of straw to some hole in an old wall, and there they work in the windows of some lofty buildings. Some may be seen eagerly seizing on small tufts of moss, and others bearing away some fragments of wool which a sheep has left entangled in the thorns. One requires fine roots for its nest, another has cobwebs for the outworks of its abode. He who can now look on without emotion, while God is thus giving such foresight to the thoughtless, and strength to the weak, must have a mind in which darkness prevails. Let it

ACTIVITY OF SPRING.

not be so with us; the God of providence is here demanding our praises.

Various indeed are the places frequented by birds. The preferences of some of them have thus been stated by one of our poets :

The partridge loves the fruitful fells;

The plover loves the mountains;
The woodcock haunts the lonely dells;
The soaring heron the fountains.
Through lofty groves the ring-dove roves,
The path of men to shun it;

The hazel-bush o'erhangs the thrush,

The spreading thorn the linnet.

THE ROBIN.

Thus, every kind their pleasure find,
The savage and the tender:

Some social join, and leagues combine;

Some solitary wander.

The materials used by birds in forming their nests are also various. The same places and articles are rarely, perhaps never, found united by the different species, though we should suppose similar necessities would direct to an uniform provision. Birds that build early in the spring seem to require warmth and shelter for their young. Thus the blackbird, in common with others, lines its nest with a plaster of loam, which completely excludes the keen icy gales of the opening year.

We commonly think that a nest should be so formed that the eggs may not roll out; yet many species nestle on the ground, without either finding or making any hollows. The robin usually selects a shallow cavity among grass or moss in a bank, or at the root of a tree.

Humble is his home,

And well concealed; sometimes within the sound
Of heartsome millclack, where the spacious door,
White dusted, tells how plenty reigns around;
Close at the root of brier-bush, that o'erhangs
The narrow stream, with shealings bedded white,
He fixes his abode, and lives at will.

In like manner, the partridge makes no nest, but scrapes a small hollow in the ground, placing a few fibres therein to deposit its eggs on.