File:Bird homes - The nests, eggs and breeding habits of the land birds breeding in the eastern United States with hints on the rearing and photographing of young birds (1903) (14564642189).jpg

Identifier: cu31924090299979 (find matches)
Title: Bird homes : The nests, eggs and breeding habits of the land birds breeding in the eastern United States with hints on the rearing and photographing of young birds
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Dugmore, A. Radclyffe (Arthur Radclyffe), 1870-
Subjects: Birds Birds Birds
Publisher: New York : Doubleday, Page & Co.
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
h, and covers it with lichen so that it resemblesan excrescence on the branch. Why the long-billed marsh wrenbuilds so many dummy nests, most of which are usually nearthe real nest, is not known, but it is presumably as a matter ofsafety, and for the purpose of misleading intruders, just as a parentbird will feign a broken wing to lure danger from the young. The Baltimore oriole hangs his well-built nest, a masterpieceof bird architecture, on the extreme end of an overhanging branchwhere nothing but a winged enemy can reach it. To guard againstthese the nest is made so that it looks something like a hornetsnest—with which the jays, crows, or hawks would not care tointerfere. Then, again, after all these precautions, the comfort aswell as the safety of the young is thought of when the nest isbuilt, the lower part being compactly and strongly made, whilethe walls are loosely woven so as to admit of free circulation ofair. The eggs of the belted kingfisher are placed in a hole often 12
Text Appearing After Image:
Birds Nests and Eggs six or eight feet deep, excavated in a bank by tiie birds tliemselvesafter as much as two weeks work. One possible reason for thechoice of such a place is the fact that the younfg, which are fed onfish, regurgitate large pellets of scales and bones and such indi-gestible matter ; were these dropped beneath a nest built in a treeor on the open ground it would betray the presence of the hometo the natural enemies of the bird. Why the cowbird declines theresponsibilities of maternity has never been satisfactorily explained.It is certain, however, that there is some good and sufficientreason. The European cuckoo, like the cowbird, lays her eggs inthe nests of other birds, those of the smaller birds being usuallychosen. A certain French writer gives as a reason the fact thatthe cuckoo cannot lay eggs on succeeding days. How long theinterval is has not been decided, but if it is of many days durationthat would be an ample reason for the birds not building a nestfor itse

Note About Images