Birds’ Nests

© J.N. Urbanski Usage prohibited without consent

“Very few species use the same material uniformly. I have seen the nest of the robin quite destitute of mud. In one instance, it was composed mainly of black horse-hairs, arranged in a circular manner, with a lining of fine yellow grass; the whole presenting quite a novel appearance. In another case, the next was chiefly constructed of a species of rock moss.”

Birds’-Nests, In The Catskills by John Burroughs

Upstate Dispatch on John Burroughs’ Bookshelf

© J.N. Urbanski Usage prohibited without consent

Upstate Dispatch has published a post on reading John Burroughs’ storied collection of Atlantic Monthly magazines and his Encyclopaedia Britannica. Though aging and withered, it’s an invaluable insight into the world, as it was seen by journalists, one hundred years ago.

Phases of Farm Life

© J.N. Urbanski

“The wise human eye loves modesty and humility; loves plain, simple structures; loves the unpainted barn that took no thought of itself, or the dwelling that looks inward and not outward; it is offended when the farm buildings get above their business and aspire to be something on their own account, suggesting, not cattle and crops and plain living, but the vanities of the town and the pride of dress and equipage.”

Phases of Farm Life, In the Catskills John Burroughs