# The Bird-Nester

- By: Hessel Gerritsz (Alkmaar, 1581–1632)
- Date: 1606
- Medium: paper
- Classification: print
- Dimensions: height 264 mm x width 350 mm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/RP-P-OB-27.454--b4c00b03c68aebab2218dbd2b403b814)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/yuQUV/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This print illustrates a proverb: ‘He who knows where the nest is has the knowledge, but he who robs it has the nest.’ Like the adjacent drawing, the depiction could have an amorous charge, for in the distance at the left two anglers empty a fish trap. Perhaps the saying can also be interpreted more broadly: ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’