The San Francisco call., 1895-05-19

| l began to peer about me, when her
tactics changed. She flew off little way
and began to chirp more rapidly. Then
made feint of diving into the BUSH as
who would say: "Nest2 Who said nest
Surely you do not suspect me of having a
nest anywhere within a hundred miles OF
| here?"
! Suddenly, almost in front of me, but
cunningly set where dropping branch
quite concealed it, / spied the little nest oi
twigs and hair, with two small, light
colored, spotted eggs in it. did not pro-
claim my discovery. 1 have known birds
| to desert nest on less provocation, but !
quietly retired, leaving the little crippled
warbler In possession OF the field. Doubt
| less she felt sure she had intimidated me.
| The amazing part of it all was how /
could have sat there so long without seeing
the nest. 1t was in plain sight. and yet so
artfully concealed as to be almost invisi-
| BILE. Even the eggs were SO colored and
disposed that, light-hued though they
were, they looked exactly like any one OF
half a dozen different objects Immediately
| surrounding them.
This is probably why SO many nests
escape the prying eyes and pllfering hands
of boys and collectors. Most of our smaller
birds lay eggs all spotted and streaked and
tinted in such way that they are hard to
tell from bits of moss among the branches,
iPsy
| even sometimes from tiny patches of sum
| light filtered through the leaves. The lit
! tie sheltering mothers, too, are pretectively
| colored. However gay may be the male
bird of species that builds open nests,
the female is in nearly every instance
gray. Thus disguised, sitting upon the
| nest she can hardly be told from a leaf or
| bit of bark OF moss. Most of them know
this and will sit motionIess close beside
you until they see you have discovered
| them, when up they whirr and begin to
make great row.
What pluck is often packed away in
those little feathered bodies A humming-
| bird has even been known to attack spar
| row-hawk under such circumstances.
! That the sober garb of the female is pro-
| tective is indicated by the fact that among
those birds that build covered nests
she is generally bright hued OF else,
| as in the case of the orioles who
build their open nests, although the
warlike fellow, who stays close beside his
mate during the period of incubation, and
offers battle to all corners. There are even
few curious cases of "the new woman
| among birds, who, while they build open
nests, have the female more brilliantly
colored than the male. In these cases
| however, the female is strong and warlike
while the more sober-hued male is quiet
and retiring, and it is be, be it understood
who sits upon the nest and attends to
Matching the eggs.
| Well it is for the birds that they have
developed so many protective devices, fol
they need them all. No creature, not even
| the human one, suffers as do the bird s.
They are prey to so many vicissitudes
| Let blacksnake find nest and how terri
BILE is the tragedy enacted. Let but a
hawk, or some boys stray shot, or some
prowling naturalist's snare capture a
homecoming parent bird. and the doom
4 of a whole nestful is sealed. And then
there are the disasters from climate
and storm that deplete their ranks. With
every great wind hundreds along the coast
are blown out to sea and drowned. In
every great storm they perish by hundreds
In fact, it has been said that no birds il
| their wild state die natural death. They
are prey 70 thousand fears of which
other creatures know nothing. They are
always on the qui vive-always fearing
danger. They cannot even trust man