Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-21
BIRDS AS ARCHITECTS.
Wonderful Ingenuity Displayed in
Building Their Nests.
From he New York Tribune


"A careful examination Of q birds nest
will convince any one that 1t Is work of
art. One cannot help wondering at the in
genuity displayed by it's architect. How
carefully a bird adapts itself to environ
ment is well illustrated by endless exam
pie: The winged bIackbfrds. whose
nests are usually built among reeds, flags
or bushes, make their nests very much
deeper when the place selected is subject to
very strong winds than in more sheltered
spots; and then, as future safeguard, the
mouth of the nest contracts so that the
eggs will not fall out when the flags are
swayed by the wind. Some birds
readily avail themselves of new and favor
able conditions" says A. Radcliffe Dug
more in Bird Homes.
THE phoebe formerly built its nest ex-
clusive1y on rocks. but now that houses and
bridges are to be found throughout the
country this bird has, to great extent
changed its former custom and 1t now
builds nests on almost any sort of struc-
ture built by man. This also applies to the
barn swallow, while the chimney swift has
taken possession of our chimneys and al
most fOrsaken the hollow tree trunks, in
which but few years ago they built in
large colonies. The quail and many
other birds. such as the meadow lark and
some of the sparrows, often arch their
homes over with either the growing yege-
tati0n surrounding the nest or with dry
material brought for the purpose: and in
some cases they build covered paths or en-
frances.
1.-The crested fiycatcher often makes use
of a snakeskin in the construction of it's
nest. which occupies a hole in a tree.
The ruby-throated humming bird saddles
It's tiny nest on a high branch and covers
it with lichen, so that 1t resembles an ex-
crescence on the branch. The Bal
timore -orioie hangs his wet-buiIt nest,
masterpiece of bird architecture, on the ex-
IRENE end of an overha ging branch. where
nothing but a winged enemy can reach it.
To guard against these, the nest Is made
so that it looks something like hornet
nest. with which the jays. crows or hawks
would not care to interfere. The
eggs of the belted kingfisher are placed in
a hole, often six eight feet deep. exca-
waited in a bank by the birds themselves,
after as much as two weeks work. The
tailor birds sew the edges of a large, grow
ing leaf round the nest, so that it is abso-
lutely hidden from view The bower birds
use queer materials, such as bones pieces
of metal, Shells etc.
The Baltimore oriole is one of the most
ingenious of bird architects, and employs
any material that is accessible String,
used and one bird lover tells of a nest
made completely Of silk thrown from the
windows of neighboring silk factory
In the bright-plumaged birds of the tenn
perate region the brilliant coioring is usu-
ally localized. The common bluebird has
head. back, wings and tail of brightest
purest blue, but the breast is russell and
the under parts white. The all blue birds
are the indigo bird and the grosbeak.
Yellow is a common color on parts of the
plumage, but only one yellow bird even ap-
proximates freedom from other colors: that
is the little yellow warbler which has but
slight markings of russell and olive. The
cardinal grosbeak, the summer redbird and
the scarlet tanager are almost wholly red
The first has a ring of black around the
bill, the second has wings shading to brown
and the third has black wings and tail
while the rest Of his plumage is of the most
brilliant scarlet