THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 7 



watching them a short time I proceeded on my way. On 

 May 13, I again visited the spot and found the female upon 

 the nest. After trying for some time to frighten her from 

 it. without success, I was obhged to cHmb the tree ; but as 

 the nest was out some distance from the trunk and about 

 10 feet from the ground, I could not get at it without cut- 

 ting off the limb. 



On account of the bird sitting so closely, I thought the 

 set must be complete, so cut the limb off with my pocket 

 saw. Through all of this disturbance, and the breaking off 

 of several small branches, she still remained motionless, 

 protecting her eggs. I brought the nest up close to me and 

 tried in vain to drive her off. I stroked her head and at 

 last took her by the bill and removed her from the nest ; 

 upon which she at once flew away, not making a sound nor 

 showing the first signs of defense, anger, or grief ; but upon 

 alighting in the top of a tree she gave one loud, clear, call- 

 note, which quickly brought her mate to the scene. But 

 what was my disappointment upon looking into the nest, to 

 find that it contained but one egg. I thought all was lost ; 

 but as this was the first nest of the kind I had ever seen, I 

 determined to replace it if possible, and try to persuade the 

 female to complete the set. So I took from my pocket 

 some common white string and tied the limb back as well 

 as could be done without a ladder. The white string was 

 quite conspicuous, as it was necessary to suspend the 

 broken branch from limbs above in order to have it some- 

 where near the original position. By this time the male 

 had arrived and the female kept flying from tree to tree, 

 every now and then coming very near to me, to see what I 

 was doing. She uttered a few very soft, plaintive notes 

 and appeared so humble, that I could but think of her grief 

 at seeing her home disturbed. I left the tree and watched 

 the little innocent creature approach her nest. She first 

 flew to the branch over the place where the nest was orig- 

 inally, which appeared to be her accustomed way of going 

 to the nest, and dropping down as though she expected to 

 alight in it, fluttered a moment, then returned to the tree. 



