148 



THE OSPREY. 



The Phoebe's Nest and Youiu 



its four newly hatched infants. The same lot 

 befell the single pair of Thrashers, and a pair of 

 Wood Thrushes whose nests were in all too ex- 

 posed a situation. All of these, however, have 

 rebuilt, and are doing" well at present. 



The saddest fate of all befell the tiny pretty 

 Hummers which had placed their dainty little 

 home away out upon a slender branch of one of 

 our apple trees. I discovered it on the morning; 

 of the 26th, when the female suddenly came 

 down, and buzzingly inquired what I wanted 

 near her nest. Her actions were so unmistaka- 

 ble that I decided to learn a little more about 

 the whereabouts of her home. Remaining- per- 

 fectly quiet for a few moments I had the pleas- 

 ure to see her dart upward, and after a some- 

 what tortuous course through the leafy top of 

 the trees, (which course, by the way, she always 

 employed when approaching the nest) quietU' 

 settle down upon the little cup. I had often 

 watched this busy little body as she gathered 

 cotton from the cotton wood, and even once 

 espied her picking a bit of gray lichen from an 

 apple tree, in the opposite end of the orchard, 

 but had failed to trace the little burdened gem 

 to her nest. It was with great pleasure there- 

 fore that I made this discovery for I hoped to 

 become thoroughly acquainted with Trochilian 

 household affairs and domestic duties. 



I built a 20 foot scaffold on the 27th, and had 

 the pleasure to take a peep at the two little oval, 

 white, treasures, and even took a picture of the 

 whole. Not knowing when they were deposited 

 and not wishing to miss anything which might 



take place within that little, softest of all soft 

 cups, I took a look at it each day until June 4, 

 when I found the remains of the two strongly 

 incubated egg's on m^' platform and thus my 

 pleasant dream came to an untimely end. I 

 stronglj' suspected a Catbird of doing this mis- 

 chief, but the finding of several rocks on the 

 platform a day or two later has led me to once 

 more believe that the small boy is again respon- 

 sible for the outrage. During all my visits to 

 the nest I never once saw the male. It was 

 the female which guarded the house at all times. 

 The little nest, now before me, is a marvel. It 

 is affixed to a triple forking branch which is 

 about three-eighths of an inch in thickness, and 

 is joined to it and the three lesser divisions. 

 Its largest outside diameter is one and five- 

 eights, its smallest, one and one half inches. 

 Its outside depth is one and five-sixteenths of 

 an inch. Its inside diameters are seven-eighths 

 by thirteen-sixteenths of an inch. The bulk of 

 the nest is composed of the downy fruit of the 

 cotton wood which seems to have been securely 

 woven and here and there fixed by silk)' threads 

 from the spider's web. The entire exterior 

 being beautifully adorned with small bits of 

 gray and green lichens, species common to the 

 apple tree, which add very effectively to the con- 

 cealment of the nest as well as to its beauty. 



One pair of Catbirds built their nest in a 

 bunch of raspberry bushes, which was indeed 

 well concealed, and would have escaped detec- 

 tion had it not been for the fact that we knew; 

 that Kitty loves just such places, in which to 



