en blades of
grass, a seemingly scant protection against the danger of rolling away
to destruction.

On the sandy islands of the Atlantic Coast, from Long Island southward,
many species of Terns make nests by simply burrowing a slight
depression in the sand among the sea-shells. Some of the sea birds of
the far North, as, for example, the Murres and Auks, often lay their
eggs on the shelving cliffs exposed to the sweep of the ocean gales.
These are shaped as if designed by nature to prevent them rolling off
the rocks. They are very large at one {41} end and toward the other
taper sharply. When the wind blows they simply swing around in circles.

Although we sometimes speak of the bird's nest as its home, such really
is not the case, for the nest of the wild bird is simply the cradle for
the young. When the little ones have flown it is seldom that either
they or their parents ever return to its shelter.

{42}

CHAPTER III

DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE BIRDS

It is a privilege to be so situated that one may watch from day to day
the occurrences about a wild bird's nest. Here feathered life reaches
its greatest heights of emotion, and comedies and threatened tragedies
are of daily occurrence. The people we know best are those whom we
have seen at their play and at their work, in moments of elation and
doubt, and in times of great happiness and dire distress. And so it is
that he who has followed the activities of a pair of birds through all
the joys and anxieties of nest building, brooding, and of caring for
the young, may well lay claim to a close acquaintanceship with them.

In watching a nest one will learn, for example, that with most of our
small birds both parents engage in {43} the pleasant duty of feeding
the young, at times shielding the little ones from the hot rays of the
sun with their half-extended wings, and now and then driving away
intruders. The common passerine birds also attend carefully to the
sanitation of the nest and remove the feces, which is inclosed in a
membrane and is thus easily carried in the bill. This is usually
dropped several yards away. If allowed to accumulate on the ground
beneath the nest it might attract the attention of some prowling enemy
and lead to a disastrous discovery.

_Parental Care of Young._--There is a wide difference in the relative
helplessness of nesting birds, and a corresponding difference in the
methods of parental care. The young of praecocial bir