-PLACES.

With the return of spring every year the trees take new life, and begin
to bud and put forth their leaves. At the same time the birds also feel,
as it were, a throb of new life, and begin to busy themselves with the
building of their nests, in which, when the weather is warmer, they will
lay their eggs and rear their young ones. At these times they are bolder
than usual, and timid birds, which in the winter and autumn seek the
most secluded woods and distant fields, often build in gardens quite
near to houses or to places where men are at work. The habits of birds
when they are building their nests are very interesting, and sometimes
rather puzzling.

[Illustration: "A wren built its nest in the pocket."]

As a rule they take great care to place their nests where they will be
screened from observation and safe from injury; but at times they appear
to be utterly reckless, and build in some place where there seems to us
to be every probability that the nests will be disturbed. The little
wren, for instance, usually builds its nest in some hole in an
ivy-covered tree or in a thatch. When it builds in a more open place, it
is careful to cover its nest with a dome or roof, leaving a hole in the
side for its own passage in and out. It covers its nest on the outer
side with green moss or brown leaves, selecting those materials which
are similar in colour to the surroundings of the nest. The nest is on
this account difficult to see, and the white eggs speckled with red,
which are laid in it, are hidden from view by the dome of the nest. Very
often, too, the bird has been known to build false nests, or 'dummies,'
in order to mislead visitors into thinking that it has been driven away.

But though the wren usually takes all this care to hide its nest and its
eggs from observation, it is sometimes just as careless and builds in
strange places, where it is almost sure to be noticed. It will boldly
make its nest in the hat of a scarecrow, which is intended to frighten
birds away. A little while ago, according to the newspapers, one of
these birds built its nest and hatched its eggs in the pocket of a
child's old waistcoat which had been thrown aside as useless. Other
birds often display the same boldness or carelessness. Many years ago a
swallow occupied for two years a nest which had been built upon the
handles of a pair of garden-shears which leaned against the boards in
the interior of an out-house. These were all