THE BUSH-TIT. 



28^^ 



For its succt'sstul rearing they are ready t(_) forswear the delights df foreign 

 tra\'el, and to its eniijellishnient tliey de\'Ote e\'erv surplus energy, even after 

 the children have come. 



If there were time it would be interesting to trace the genesis of this 

 architectural passion. Sufhce it tij sav that the Bush-Tit comes of a race of 

 l.)uilders. They call him Tit, a name shared in common with all the Chicka- 

 dees; and Chickadee he is in structure and ljeha\ior, in his absolute indiiTer- 

 encc to ]josition or balance, in lu's daintiness and sjirightliness. .\'iiw Chicka- 

 dees, altho they sj^^sss-v,,- 

 have lost the art 

 of building, are 

 specialists in nest- 

 lining. (A nest 

 lined with rabbit- 

 fur means as 

 much to a Chicka- 

 dee as does a seal- 

 skin jacket to 

 you, my lady ! ) 

 Hence the Chick- 

 adee strain is not 

 lost upon our sub- 

 ject. The Tit, 

 fm"ther, shows liis 

 afflnity with the 

 Kinglets in a 

 liabit of restlessly 

 flirting the wings ; 

 and the Kinglets, 

 as we know, are 

 master builders. 

 But it is to the 

 Wrens that the 

 Bush - Tit owes 

 most of all, and 

 especially to the 

 Tule Wren, for 

 he has taken the 

 general concep- 

 tion of a com- 

 pletely enclosed 

 nest and worked 



Taken lu Tocoina. 



Photo by DiKi'soit and Bozclcs. 



NEST OF THE BUSH-TIT IN SITU. 



