. St. Nicholas [serial] . most permitting himself to be he flew away to safety, to return in a fewminutes to the eggs. When the wings and tail ofthe male are folded the bright marks are all con-cealed, and nothing could be more beautifullyhidden in plain sight than this same night-hawk. He is not only covered all over withlittle pictures of lichen and ground, but nature has even painted out the shadows onthe bird itself! I have seen persons(and very sharp-eyed ones, too) whocould not see a night-hawk sitting ona bare rock twenty feet away, so per-fectly was she painted into herrani
. St. Nicholas [serial] . most permitting himself to be he flew away to safety, to return in a fewminutes to the eggs. When the wings and tail ofthe male are folded the bright marks are all con-cealed, and nothing could be more beautifullyhidden in plain sight than this same night-hawk. He is not only covered all over withlittle pictures of lichen and ground, but nature has even painted out the shadows onthe bird itself! I have seen persons(and very sharp-eyed ones, too) whocould not see a night-hawk sitting ona bare rock twenty feet away, so per-fectly was she painted into herranite while the night-hawk is select-ing a rock in the pasture on whichto lay her pair of mottled eggs, theother birds are busy with many kinds ofhouses. The woodpeckers are hewing outtheir homes in the solid wood of the orchardtrees ; the crested flycatchers and bluebirds arepeeping into attractive knot-holes; the vireosand orioles are weaving their graceful hangingbaskets; the meadow-larks and ground-spar-. THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE ATTACHES A HANGINGNEST TO A BRANCH. rows are neatly lining a corner under a tussockor at the base of some pasture weed ; the queer NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS. 745 swifts are breaking off dead twigs for theircurious little glued-up bracket-nest in the chim-ney ; and the dainty, moth-like little humming-birds are at work on their tiny cradles of plantdown, lichens, and cobwebs. All birds havegreat individuality. Some of this is manifestedwhen they first arrive, but it is more marked inhome-building and the care of young. Eachkind has its own method of doing the regularhousehold duties that come with a growingfamily. What a task it is to keep that nestfulof yawning throats filled and quiet! Swifts fly through the evening air, open-mouthed, trapping insects, like young folkswith butterflv-nets. They store a quantity in
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
