YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 555 



him scarcely bigger than your thumb ; you have been 

 looking for somethino; the size of an oriole at least. But 

 there he sits, as perky as if he were of respectable size, 

 and sings the ditty over again to prove that he can do it. 

 And when you first find his nest, the 

 wonder grows. Surely such a mite 

 will build a dainty house like that of 

 the hummingbird. But not so ! A 

 retort-shaped affair, ludicrously out of 

 proportion to the 

 diminutive archi- 

 tect, is woven of 

 twigs and stems, 

 each one a heavy 

 load for the h'ttle 

 builders, and lined 

 to bursting with 

 feathers and flower- 

 stems. It is at least 

 twenty times the 

 size of the mother bird who broods 

 in it, and we do not wonder that it 

 is used suiiinicr and winter so long 

 as the walls remain firm. One would 

 suppose this one nest were large 

 enough to hold both master and mistress of the house- 

 hold ; but, as if his industry knew no bounds, the male 

 constructs his own apartnuMit in the same neiglibor- 

 hood and occupies it all winter alone. I believe that 

 the female constructs her own winter nest, and also 



7-16. Vkiuhn. 



,1 returt-shaped ajf'air. 



