. Nature sketches in temperate America, a series of sketches and a popular account of insects, birds, and plants, treated from some aspects of their evolution and ecological relations . easure within my satchel forfurther study, I next examined the nestwith care. To my surprise, I foundin the bottom a dead house body was curled around in such away that it lay perfectly flat andserved as a bed upon which the mousehad rested. On removing the birdsbody to the light, it was foundthat nearly half of the skull was de-tatched and completely cleaned ofall flesh. There were incriminatingeviden
. Nature sketches in temperate America, a series of sketches and a popular account of insects, birds, and plants, treated from some aspects of their evolution and ecological relations . easure within my satchel forfurther study, I next examined the nestwith care. To my surprise, I foundin the bottom a dead house body was curled around in such away that it lay perfectly flat andserved as a bed upon which the mousehad rested. On removing the birdsbody to the light, it was foundthat nearly half of the skull was de-tatched and completely cleaned ofall flesh. There were incriminatingevidences of mice teeth havinggnawed the bones of the skull. Noother part of the birds anatomy hadbeen eaten, and the flesh was so freshthat it had not yet undergone pu-trefaction. Not until the night ofTheWhite-FootedMouseinthe the same day was there indicationnren s nest as she appeared j i •after removing the hark. ot this change. The idea gainedfrom these facts was that the birdhad been killed quite recently. Underneath the birds bodyand occupying the bottom layer, a number of coarse, shorttwigs had been deposited by the bird, -which were doubtlessonly the beginning of her ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, WITH EXAMPLES 251 Now let us go back to the male wrens performances and thefull realization of the meaning of his actions will be at onceunderstood. Here, indeed, I had witnessed a pathetic state ofaffairs. He probably had been thrown into a condition ofdismay by his mates absence, but did he know the cause of herdisappearance ? He must have seen the mouse in his home andmust have had a suspicion of what had happened. He appealedto her with his song, coming near the doorway of the little housewhere he had last seen her enter. Then again he brought suchmeans to his aid as would attract her attention, but alas, withoutavail. In a few minutes the male again made his time he made a short stay in the old locality, surveyingit hurriedly. I next saw him flying to a distant tre
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectins
