“We hear and read stories of Nature that are inventions, and could not have happened because they are not according to the plan of creation,—so the people who tell these instead of being clever are really very stupid,—but not one of these is as wonderful as the simple truth, or as awe-inspiring as the flight of Wild Geese that goes on before our sight year after year in the April sky, or that we know by their cries and the rush of wings is passing overhead in the gloom of a wild and stormy night. WILD GEESE A far, strange sound through the night, A dauntless and resolute cry, Clear in the tempest’s despite, Ringing so wild and so high. Darkness and tumult and dread, Rain and the battling of gales, Yet cleaving the storm overhead, The wedge of the Wild Geese sails. Pushing their perilous way, Buffeted, beaten, and vexed; Steadfast by night and by day, Weary, but never perplexed; Sure that the land of their hope Waits beyond tempest and dread, Sure that the dark where they grope Shall glow with the morning red! O birds in the wild, wild sky! Would I could so follow God’s way Through darkness, unquestioning why, With only one thought to obey! —Celia Thaxter. Nest-Building “Though a few of our common birds, like the Robin, Bluebird, Woodcock, Crow, Grackle, and some of the Hawks and Owls, begin to nest in April, May and June are the real nesting months. “When the spring migration is over, we call those birds who have decided to stay with us and build their homes Summer Residents, and it is from these that we must learn of the home life of birds. “The visitors who stop awhile on their way to other places we may learn to call by name, but we can never really know them any more than we can a chance visitor who boards a few weeks in our vicinity. “The nesting habits of birds and the manner in which they build their homes vary according to the necessity and skill of the species. (See _Citizen Bird_.) “In their house-building you will find that the birds know almost as many trades as human beings, for among them are weavers, basket-makers, masons, and carpenters, as well as workers in felt, hair, and feathers. “Many water-birds merely make a hollow in the sand or gather a few bits of grass together for a nest. “The Grouse, Quail, and Woodcock scratch up a few leaves in a ground hollow or between stumps, for, like domestic fowl, they always nest on the ground and their colour, being dull, blends with it, and you may almost step on one of these birds when it is on its nest and never know it.