On the whole, there seems to be a system of Women’s Rights prevailing among the birds, which contemplated from the standpoint of the male, is quite admirable.  In almost all cases of joint interest, the female bird is the most active.  She determines the site of the nest, and is usually the most absorbed in its construction.  Generally, she is more vigilant in caring for the young, and manifests the most concern when danger threatens.  Hour after hour I have seen the mother of a brood of blue grosbeaks pass from the nearest meadow to the tree that held her nest, with a cricket or grasshopper in her bill, while her better-dressed half was singing serenely on a distant tree or pursuing his pleasure amid the branches.

Yet among the majority of our song-birds the male is most conspicuous both by his color and manners and by his song, and is to that extent a shield to the female.  It is thought that the female is humbler clad for her better concealment during incubation.  But this is not satisfactory, as in some cases she is relieved from time to time by the male.  In the case of the domestic dove, for instance, promptly at midday the cock is found upon the nest.  I should say that the dull or neutral tints of the female were a provision of nature for her greater safety at all times, as her life is far more precious to the species than that of the male.  The indispensable office of the male reduces itself to little more than a moment of time, while that of his mate extends over days and weeks, if not months.[Footnote]

[Footnote] A recent English writer upon this subject presents an array of facts and considerations that do not support this view.  He says that, with very few exceptions, it is the rule that, when both sexes are of strikingly gay and conspicuous colors, the nest is such as to conceal the sitting bird; while, whenever there is a striking contrast of colors, the male being gay and conspicuous, the female dull and obscure, the nest is open and sitting bird exposed to view.  The exceptions to this rule among European birds appear to be very few.  Among our own birds, the cuckoos and the blue jays build open nests, without presenting any noticeable difference in the coloring of the two sexes.  The same is true of the pewees, the kingbird, and the sparrows, while the common bluebird, the oriole, and the orchard starling afford examples the other way.

In migrating northward, the males have abandoned their nests, or rather chambers, which they do after the first season, their cousins, the nuthatches, chickadees, and brown creepers, fall heir to them.  These birds, especially the creepers and nuthatches, have many of the habits of the Picidae, but lack their powers of bill, and so are unable to excavate a nest for themselves.  Their habitation, therefore, is always second-hand.  But each species carries in some soft material of various kinds, or in other words, furnishes the tenement to its liking.  The chickadee arranges in the bottom of the cavity a little mat of a light felt-like substance, which looks as if is came from the hatter’s, but which is probably the work of numerous worms or caterpillars.  On this soft lining the female deposits six speckled eggs.