Mexico Missouri message., 1918-06-13
Birds And Their Nests
BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.
Many OF The Traits Shown That We
Humans Possess.

the book, you All's House." has
written the following very interest
ing article for the Journal of Agri-
culture
Recently l saw mother robin
'Ambing, step by step, the long limbs
OF large oak. She halted here and
there where the small branches
sprangled, and she occasionally ex-
amined a small smooth fork of two
limbs only. When she had examined
one, she few to another and did the
same thing. l am sure that she was
looking for a nesting site.
We are apt to say that birds build
as their instincts guide, but really
they are more fastidious than that.
I have seen a robin waste much time
and material trying places. After
the nest had been considerably on
the way, she may abandon it for a
place that suits her better. Often it
seems mere matter of taste. She
drapes a rag or string over a crotch,
and finds that it is ungraceful or
does not match something. Any OBJ
serving person may note these things
in the early season.
They Sometimes Disagree.
Sometimes the change of place
may result from disagreement be-
tween the pair--a very human Incl
dent. There is a record of one male
refusing to have anything to do with
a nest his wife had insisted on max
| ing-so she had to build another.
! Among robins, so far as I know, the
female selects the nest site; and her
choice is often so peculiar that one
does not wonder at the displeasure
of the husband. One could fill long
paDc" with the strange places this
bird has chosen.
Among the wrens, it is usually the
male that selects the second site,
tho with the house wren the wife
seems to do the bossing. Not only
does the male choose, but he builds
the later nests. Here, too, I have
seen feminine fastidiousnesS literal
ly turn up its nose at the husbands
work, and the poor fellow would go
off and try another Various reasons
have been given by students why the
male wren builds so many nests
while his wife sits, but they have
failed to give feminine fastidious-
ness it's proper weight. He hopes
that at least one may suit her, and
he suffers just like the rest of us.
While each bird has certain sub
stances which it may always put in
to its nests, they are more particular
than we think. Substitutes may be
used where the regular thing cannot
be obtained, but about all material
even the most sloven may show
great choice. Thus after deciding to
take material from a certain place,
all that is used usually comes from
there, tho it may be found nearer. l
saw mother DiCksissel once go
quite a way for straws which were
abundant within a few feet OF hel
nest. In this case, might mention
the male went to and fro with hel
and sang to her at both ends of the
trip, as if he were doing it all IL
was content to do the heavy standing
around A dove needs only a few
straws to satisfy her ideas of wha
will keep her eggs from rolling Off ,
stump or fiat limb, but have seer
her spend half an hour selecting on,
pine needle for this purpose, taking
up various ones and throwing then
over her back with contempt.
Lining The Nests.
In the makeup, birds like certain
crude material to shape the founda
tion and the cup (of the complet,
nest) but it is in the lining that the!
are more apt to insist on certain
things, Thus many of our sparrow
ond .nr,,r, mo hafrg 70