My Studio NeighborsGibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
History
My Studio Neighbors
Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
Natural history; Natural history -- Outdoor books
This nest is a beautiful piece of bird architecture. In a walk in search
of one only a day or two ago I procured one, which is now before me. It
was built in the fork of an elder-bush, to which it was moored by strips
of fine bark and cobweb, its downy bulk being composed by a fitted mass
of fine grass, willow cotton, fern wood, and other similar ingredients.
It is about three inches in depth, outside measurement. But this depth
greatly varies in different specimens. Our next specimen may afford
quite a contrast, for the yellow warbler occasionally finds it to her
interest to extend the elevation of her dwelling to a remarkable height.
On page 50 is shown one of these nests, snugly moored in the fork of a
scrub apple-tree. Its depth from the rim to the base, viewed from the
outside, is about five inches, at least two inches longer than necessity
would seem to require, and apparently with a great waste of material in
the lower portion, as the hollow with the pretty spotted eggs is of only
the ordinary depth of about two inches, thus hardly reaching half-way to
the base. Let us examine it closely. There certainly is a suspicious
line or division across its upper portion, about an inch below the rim,
and extending more or less distinctly completely around the nest. By a
very little persuasion with our finger-tip the division readily yields,
and we discover the summit of the nest to be a mere rim--a top story, as
it were--with a full-sized nest beneath it as a foundation. Has our
warbler, then, come back to his last year's home and fitted it up anew
for this summer's brood? Such would be a natural supposition, did we not
see that the foundation is as fresh in material as the summit. Perhaps,
then, the bird has already raised her first spring brood, and has simply
extended her May domicile, and provided a new nursery for a second
family. But either supposition is quickly dispelled as we further
examine the nest; for in separating the upper compartment we have just
caught a glimpse of what was, perhaps only yesterday, the hollow of a
perfect nest; and, what is more to the point of my story, the hollow
contains an egg--perhaps two, in which case they will be very
dissimilar, one of delicate white with faint spots of brown on its
larger end, the putting of the warbler, the other much larger, with its
greenish surface entirely speckled with brown, and which, if we have had
any experience in bird-nesting, we immediately recognize as the
mischievous token of the cow-bird. We have discovered a most interesting
curiosity for our natural-history cabinet--the embodiment of a
presumably new form of intelligence in the divine plan looking to the
survival of the fittest. It is not known how many years or centuries it
has taken the little warbler to develop this clever resource to outwit
the cow-bird. It is certain, however, that the little mother has got
tired of being thus imposed upon, and is the first of her kind on record
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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