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Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and Other Papers by John Burroughs
page 39 of 170 (22%)
in a maple sapling, within a few yards of the little rustic
summer-house already referred to. The first attempt of the season,
I suspect, had failed in a more secluded place under the hill; so the
pair had come up nearer the house for protection. The male sang in the
trees near by for several days before I chanced to see the nest.
The very morning, I think, it was finished, I saw a red squirrel
exploring a tree but a few yards away; he probably knew what the
singing meant as well as I did. I did not see the inside of the nest,
for it was almost instantly deserted, the female having probably laid
a single egg, which the squirrel had devoured.

If I were a bird, in building my nest I should follow the example of
the bobolink, placing it in the midst of a broad meadow, where there
was no spear of grass, or flower or growth unlike another to mark its
site. I judge that the bobolink escapes the dangers to which I have
adverted as few or no other birds do. Unless the mowers come along at
an earlier date than she has anticipated, that is, before July lst,
or a skunk goes nosing through the grass, which is unusual, she is as
safe as bird well can be in the great open of nature. She selects the
most monotonous and uniform place she can find amid the daisies or the
timothy and clover, and places her simple structure upon the ground in
the midst of it. There is no concealment, except as the great conceals
the little, as the desert conceals the pebble, as the myriad conceals
the unit. You may find the nest once, if your course chances to lead
you across it and your eye is quick enough to note the silent brown
bird as she darts quickly away; but step three paces in the wrong
direction, and your search will probably be fruitless. My friend and I
found a nest by accident one day, and then lost it again one minute
afterward. I moved away a few yards to be sure of the mother-bird,
charging my friend not to stir from his tracks. When I returned,
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