heir feet.

You know how a canary goes to sleep, all puffed out like a ball, with
his head buried in the feathers of his shoulder. He may stick his bill
over behind the top of the wing, but he never "puts his head under his
wing," as you have heard.

Sometimes he stands straight up on one leg, with the other drawn up out
of sight in his feathers, but more often he sits down on the perch,
still resting on his feet. Most wild birds of the perching kind sleep in
the same way.

It is only lately that we have begun to find out where birds sleep,
because it is dark when they go to bed, and they get up before it is
light enough for us to see them.

The only way to catch them in bed is to go out in the evening, and start
them up after they have gone to sleep. And this is not very kind to the
poor little birds. Some men who are trying to learn about the habits of
birds have tried this way, and so have found out some of their
sleeping-places.

One thing they have learned is that the nest is not often used for a
bed, except for the mother while she is sitting and keeping her little
ones warm.

Robins and orioles, and others, creep into the thick branches of an
evergreen tree, close up to the trunk. Some crawl under the edge of a
haystack, others into thick vines or thorny bushes. All these are meant
for hiding-places, so that beasts that prowl about at night, and like to
eat birds, will not find them.

Tree sparrows like to sleep in holes in the ground like little caves.
The men who found these cosy little bedrooms think they are places dug
out by field mice, and other small animals, for their own use. And when
they are left, the birds are glad to take them.

When the weather is cold, some birds sleep under the snow. You may think
that would not be very warm, and it is not so warm as a bed in the house
with plenty of blankets. But it is much warmer than a perch in a tree,
with nothing but leaves to keep off the wind.

While the snow is falling, some birds find it as good as blankets for
their use. Grouse, who live on the ground, dive into a snow-bank and
snuggle down quietly, while the snow falls and covers them all over and
keeps the cold wind off. Air comes through the snow, so they do not
smother.

Some birds creep into a pile of brush that is covered with snow, and
find under the twigs little places like tents, where the snow has been
kept out by the twigs, and they sleep there, away from the wind and
storm outsi