ozen peas.

In mentioning some of these nests, it will be needless for us to say
much of those with which we are all familiar. In our rambles together
we must try and see as many novelties as possible, for we may not
always have the chance of wandering freely into any part of the world
to which our fancy may lead us. I remember a little girl who used to
come to our house when I was a boy, and who never cared for anything
at table that was not something of a novelty to her. When offered
potatoes, she would frankly say: "No, thank you; I can get them at
home."

So we will not meddle with hens' nests, robins' nests, and all the
nests, big and little, that we find about our homes, for they are the
"potatoes" of a subject like this, but will try and find some nests
that are a little out of the way, and curious.

But we must stop--just one moment--before we leave home, and look at a
wren's nest.

The Wren, although a very common little bird with us, does not build a
common nest. She makes it round, like a ball, or a woolly orange,
with a little hole at one side for a door. Inside, it is just as soft
and comfortable as anything can be. Being such a little bird herself,
she could not cover and protect her young ones from cold and danger so
well as the larger cat-birds and robins, and her nest is contrived so
that there will not be much covering to do.

[Illustration]

That beautiful bird, the Baltimore Oriole, which may be familiar to
some of you, makes its nest somewhat on the plan of the wren, the
similarity consisting in the fact that the structure is intended to
shelter both parent and young. The oriole, which is a great deal
larger than a wren, builds a much larger nest, forming it like a bag,
with a hole in one end, and hangs it on the branch of a tree.

[Illustration]

It is scarcely possible for any harm to come to the young orioles,
when they are lying snugly at the bottom of the deep nest and their
mother is sitting on a twig near by, ready to protect them at the
hazard of her life.

But, for all the apparent security of this nest, so deep, so warm, so
firmly secured to the twigs and branches, the little orioles are not
entirely safe. Their mother may protect them from rain and cold; from
winged enemies and creeping serpents, but she cannot defend them
against the attacks of boys and men. An oriole's nest is such a
curious structure, and the birds are known to be of such fine form and
gorgeous plumage, th