The natural history of Selborne . think that the labour of the little industriousbird should be lost, I called to my gardener, and ordered him tobring something of the cloth kind, whereupon he brought me abag of coarse calico wrapping, in which groceries had been sentme ; the mouth of which I tied up, and hung it upon a low branchof a plum-tree, very near to the tulip-bed, dividing the seam lomake an entrance, and putting two sticks across lo keep thebottom open; having so done, I took all the materials (while shesat looking on and panting upon the rail) which the bird hadbrought by little and
The natural history of Selborne . think that the labour of the little industriousbird should be lost, I called to my gardener, and ordered him tobring something of the cloth kind, whereupon he brought me abag of coarse calico wrapping, in which groceries had been sentme ; the mouth of which I tied up, and hung it upon a low branchof a plum-tree, very near to the tulip-bed, dividing the seam lomake an entrance, and putting two sticks across lo keep thebottom open; having so done, I took all the materials (while shesat looking on and panting upon the rail) which the bird hadbrought by little and little at a time, holding them up, as it were,to let her see my drift, and put them by slow degrees into the attentively observing me for some time, and the male also,who had by this time appeared in sight, and by whose plumage Idiscovered that the birds in question were redstarts (Sylv. Phce-nicurus), I retired to a small distance, the female watching mymotions very narrowly; and, after a minute or two, she took cour-. age, flew to the bag, looked in, and returned to the rail two orthree times, as if to consider what she should do; at last she setheartily to work, as if in full confidence, completed her nest, andnever afterward seemed to mind me at all, though I examinedher operations every day ; she laid five eggs, all which she hatch-ed, and seemed to like her pendent habitation very much; and OF SELBORNE. 131 placidly on the top of a tall tree in a village, thecock sings from morning to night: he affects neigh-bourhoods, and avoids solitude, and loves to buildin orchards and about houses; with us he percheson the vane of a tall Maypole. The fly-catcher is, of all our summer birds, the during the whole time of her incubation, permitted mine, and thevisits of some hundreds of persons, who came to see my flowers,which are of the choicest ilind, without ever flying off the nest;the male, indeed, always seemed a little uneasy at our visits tothe bag ; but, extraordina
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
