Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1893-08-11
INGENIOUS BIRDS.


Clever Deception Employed to Keep Egg
and Nestings Safe.
No prettier examples of mother.
hood and self-sacriacing devotion to
the young can be found in nature
than are exhibited by certain among
the birds which we all love so well.
Those that build upon high trees are
not so wary in the matter OF nest
| c0ncealment as those that seek the
hedge or ground for the shelter Of
their houses A nest placed upon
the ground is in constant danger
which fact renders the parent birds
remarkably wary and their effort to
| protect and conceal their eggs and
young are often very ingenious The
/ skylark has been known to carry its
eggs or offspring to place OF safety
after an exposure of the nest, and it
has been said its long bind claw-the
use of which has puzzled many
naturaists is especially adapted by
nature for more easily grasping and
transporting its treasures from the
source of danger When the young
birds arc too bulky TO he thus re-
moved the parent carries them on its
back, though this mode Of removal is
a somewhat difficult one. Nesting
upon theground, the partridge is like
wise likely to be disturbed A bird of
this species was once startled by a
plOw passing within Yard or so of
its nest Destruction was almost a
certainty, as the plow must pass en-
tirely over it in the next round, and
the laborer wonde ed how the part
ridge would act The time necessary
for going around the tie was about
twenty minutes, yet in that almost
incredible period the parent birds had
elected the removal OF some twenty
search led TO the diseove[ Careful
'y calmly seated upon her treasures in
in the bottom of the hedge, out of reach
N of the p!Ow.
~. The magpie is nothing if not in-
genius. He always barricades his
IL bulky nest with thorn branches, so
ell that to punder it is by no means an
n easy matter; but when circumstances
~ oblige the .pie" to build in a low
bush or hedge-an arse ce OF lofty
y trees eing marked feature Of some
in uorthern localites-he not only in
he terlaces his home, but also the entire
d. bush in a most formidable manner
Nor does he stop here To "make
T. assurance doubly sure" " he fashions a
t. means Of exit as well as entrance 10
the castle. 50 that if disturbed he can
al sim out OF his back door as 1t were,
A tree sparrow on one occasion built
io its nest in a tall elm. just beneath
n the more bulky erection Of a crow.
Sc Not only did the large nest screer
ot the smaller but it afforded a means
of protection from the yagaries o.
NC the weather. Some time after the
er crows nest was plundered Of its con
IN tents while that OF the tree sparrow
i escaped untouched a greendnct
i. once built It's nest Inside the desc tei
IN home Of a missel-thrush. This de
he serted nest was we'll known to tn
bjrd-nesting boy as forsaken, it bein
several seasons old and much battere'
by the storms Of past winters, 5
none yentured to climb the tree alte
III it
nj Young birds practice deceptioni to
u their ultimate safety especially thos
- Of the partridge and the lapwin
rs species At given signal from th
ly parent they squat close to the grounf
Vi hoping by such means 10 escape I'll
of ewes of the intruder. In such cast
their coloring assists them, IL
u feathers OF the helpless fedglins
)lt n,rtokino of the hues of their gel
ur eral surroundings Nestings take
,r by surprise feigu helplessness, and e
1. courage the notion that they have NJ
VI vet power to use their wings But
TX sooner is the means Of escape eyidel
to than away they lutter, awkwardly
bo Is true, but sufficiently well to a
complish their purpose.