New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-12-22

nelghborhood; so that a great many
soon lay about on the ground,
and were blown by the wind intp
all sorts of places. One Of
the chief attractions on the pro-
gramme was tableau vivo,t entitled
Our Darlings,' and these two words
were of course printed conspicuously
on the handful.
t'Months after the date of the enter
tainment, New York family came tc
pass the summer in that country place.
One day, the little boy of the family
came running into the house excited and
| delighted, and calling: -..-.
Mamma! Mamma! See what ]
have found? and he held up birds
nest.
Now, the little boy was real lover
of birds, so his mother knew he would
not have taken the nest from it's place
il it had not been deserted. And when
she looked at it closely, she saw that
the little builders had woven in among
the twi gs and straw piece of one Of
the old handbills; and this piece act
ually bore the words, Our Oarlin gs!'
That was why the boy was excited
about the nest, and, indeed, everybody
thinks it so pretty and curious thing,
that it is kept with great care, and
looked upon as treasure"
And now you shall hear of the
wonderful ingenuity which bird show
ed in keeping it's house from falling.
What architect could have done better?
Read this, from H. f. d., of Spiceland,
Indiana.
"This curiofs little nest, think, was
built by an orchard oriole, but I cannot
say certainly, as the owner had left it
before found it.
cit is made of the long bast fiber
from various plants, white cotton lap
ping-twine, long horse-hairs and sew
ing thread The bast fbers form the
larger part of the nest, the Irvine being
interviewer with it in way that
strengthens the fabric. Around several
twigs there are loops of Irvine, the ends
having been carried down and woven
into the walls of the nest.
cit was built in the top of small
swamp-maple that stood near dwell
ing. The nest was placed between a
small twig and the main stem; the loops
of Irvine, before referred to- fastened it
to some twigs higher up Two sides of
the nest were sewed to the branchlets,
the fiber, Irvine and hair passing over
the branch and through the edge of the
nest, in stitches close together.
"But the strangest and most curious
part in it's construction is this: The
twigs to which it is sewed. diverge from
each other and leave a space so broad
that without additional support that side
of the nest would have sagged.
To meet this difficulty, the bird has
taken a piece of No. 8 sewing thread
and firmly woven one end of it into the
body OF the nest, while the other end
she has carried to a projecting tWig.
some distance above, and there secured
it by winding it five times around the
stem and then tying it with apcJect
single h,aotn'
This incident of H. E. DIS shows
plainly enough that birds know how to
benefit themselves in nest-building by
using articles manufactured by man, in
place of the poor substitutes which the
woods and fields afford them. And, as
another proof of this, a letter in 1T.
Nicholas of last year, but which will be
fresh to our new subscribers, is reprint
ed here:
"One day not long ago I washed
number of pieces of very fine lace, and
left them spread out on the lawn
Presently went to look at them, so
as to be sure they were all right, for
they were valuable. One, two, three
pieces were gone. Yet there were no
fresh tracks on the lawn and paths,
and when l asked in the house was
told that no one there had gone near
the lace, or seen anybody else near it,
during the whole morning.
"This was puzzling, as we'll as disa-
greeable; and SO l went to look again.
Another piece vanished! Then l put a
chair near the po:ck and sat down and
sewed, watching the lace carefully. But
once bent my eyes to my work for
about half minute, and when looked
up again still another treasure was
gone! This time knew that no one
but myself could have been near the
laces How, then, could it have disap-
peared? l put away my sewing, and
for five minutes steadily gazed at the
pieces left. Somebody in the house
called out, and [ glanced around. As
[ turned my eyes forward again, what
should see, sailing away in the air a
few yards from me, but a piece of the
precious lace, trailing from the beak of
a robin! soon found that it was the
same saucy fellow who had taken all
the pieces, and that he had tried to
make his little home beautiful with
them.
"The lace was spoiled when we
found it, for Robin had torn it when
weaving it in with twigs; but the nest
looked so pretty that l let my ruined
treasures stay.
Last of all, here is an anecdoie show
ing that birds not only know enough to
help themselves by such material as
thread, Irvine, lace, wool, ETC., but that
they are even so wise as to select goods
of the proper color. G. S. B., of Parkes-
burg, Pa. writes:
"Last summer, just when tho trees
were at the greenest, an oriole and his
mate came to our yard and began to
build their nest in a dropping Dough of
tue ok! sycamore, where the foliage was
very thick Both birds went busily to
work to find materials for nest, and
soon they began to examine whatever
household articles were left within safe
distance from the house. They would
pull and pucker the linens and lace that
were spread on the lawn, and at last,
= to stop their mischief, we concluded to
furnish all the material they needed,
ready for use. So we got together
some thread and strings. and a variety
of other scraps, rags of various colors,
some red and gray yarn, ETC., and
spread Chem about here and there,
wherever we thought they would be
just in the way of the little builders.
We had not long to wait, and they soon
accepted good portion of what we had
laid out for them. But after awhile we
noticed that only the gray or dull-col-
ored things were taken. The red was
a puzzle; they evidently admired it, but
decided, at last, that it would hardly
do; for their acts plainly said 1T is
pretty, gerry pretty, but then, it's SO gay!
We,re afraid II would made too nol1ch