Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1898 — Their Resources. [ARTICLE]

Their Resources.

African honey birds, though wild, watch for opportunities to accompany the natives when they go to hunt for honey. This bird flies in advance, attracting the hunters to the place where the bees’ nest is. The bird always gets a part of the honey thus obtained, and its understanding of the nature of the Implied contract seems to be perfect. There are “weaver birds” that build extensive platforms, under which their nests are protected from the rain; and “tailor birds,” that enclose their nests In big leaves, which" they stitch together with plant fibres, as one would sew pieces of cloth. Some kinds of birds build their nests over water, so that no enemy can get at them. The Baltimore oriole seeks safety hanging its nest from the end of a limb. In the southwest certain humming birds make their nests inside the thorny cacti, and the common yucca, or Spanish bayonet, affords similar protection to a species of shrike. The shrike’s nest Is so placed in the midst of the projecting bayonets that it cannot be reached.