. Birds through an opera-glass . thof a fairy cave. The next day I found three of the eggs hatched,and such absurd-looking nestlings had well beentaken for bird gnomes. They seemed all mouthand eyeball! Small red appendages answeredfor wings, and tufts of gray down on the skin didfor a coat of feathers. Even when feebly throw-ing up their heads and opening their big yellowthroats for worms, the birds eyes were closed sofast they had an uncanny appearance. The sameday I had the good fortune to stumble upon an-other nest. This was essentially the same, thoughbuilt more of fine roots. The ingenui
. Birds through an opera-glass . thof a fairy cave. The next day I found three of the eggs hatched,and such absurd-looking nestlings had well beentaken for bird gnomes. They seemed all mouthand eyeball! Small red appendages answeredfor wings, and tufts of gray down on the skin didfor a coat of feathers. Even when feebly throw-ing up their heads and opening their big yellowthroats for worms, the birds eyes were closed sofast they had an uncanny appearance. The sameday I had the good fortune to stumble upon an-other nest. This was essentially the same, thoughbuilt more of fine roots. The ingenuity of the builders is shown by adevice which puzzled me greatly in my first made several visits to it, and when the littleones had flown, found that the grass around the OVEN-BIRD. 135 mouth of the nest had been pulled together, so asto leave only a round hole just large enough forthe bird to go in and out. For some time I wasat a loss to account for it, but I had noticed fromthe outset that this bird acted peculiarly. On. none of my visits had she uttered a note or comenear me, while the other mother oven-birds alwaysbegan smacking their bills and flying hither andthither the instant I appeared. Perhaps thismother was more thoughtful than the others, andconsidering their clatter dangerous, went to theother extreme. The most terrified oven-bird that I have everseen I found on a densely wooded hillside in thesame woods. She beo^an her smackinsf as soon aswe came in sight, but although we hunted care-fully for the nest we could not find a trace of sat down on a loo- and waited for her to show 136 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. it to us, but that did no good. She did confineherself to a radius of about three rods, but select-ing saplings at extreme points flew from one tothe other as she inspected us, all the while wag-ging her tail nervously up and down and keejoingup the monotonous smacking. Finding her as incorrigible as the mosquitoes,and realizing the approach of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidbirdsthr, booksubjectbirds
