Biilli'ii)! N'o. 28. 73 



with only a few patches of litchen upon it, fastened tightly to a low 

 branch of an apple tree near the fork of a small twig not more than ten 

 feet above the ground. The Hummingbird — the female, of course ; we 

 never saw the male bird in the orchard ; — came and went at irregular 

 intervals, bringing a bit of plant down or a morsel of litchen too small 

 for us to see usually ; but the nest grew under our eyes, and by the end 

 of the afternoon one side of the nest was nearly covered with the litchen. 

 After disposing of the down or litchen Madam Hummer would settle 

 down on the nest, her breast pressed closely against the inside of it, her 

 wings and tail spread and her throat stretched over the edge, while with 

 her long bill she smoothed the outside carefully, whirling her body 

 around during the process as if on a pivot. After a few moments she 

 would fly off to a dead twig in a tree near by, to make her toilet. There 

 were three dead twigs which she seemed to prefer, as we never saw her 

 sitting anywhere else but on one of these. Our unconcealed presence 

 seemed not to disturb her in the least although once, when she had put 

 to flight two Downy Woodpeckers and a Catbird, who ventured too near 

 her domain, she flew at us several times, almost brushing my compan- 

 ion's head. But we were not Downy Woodpeckers and she gave up in 

 despair. All the next day she worked busily at the nest, and by evening 

 one side was covered with litchen and the inside was smooth and snug. 

 The next morning we pulled the branch down and found an egg in the 

 nest. Here was a progressive bird, bent on doing two things at once 

 apparently ; for all that day she wriggled and twisted and smoothed the 

 nest, sitting on it only a few minutes at a time, never still a moment. 

 She kept adding more litchen to the outside and by evening it was nearly 

 covered. But the next morning the unfinished nest hung awry on the 

 branch, the downy lining in tatters and the broken egg on a dock leaf 

 below. The Hummingbird sat disconsolately near the ruins of her 

 home, and fiercely assailed every bird that came near it. 'While she was 

 busy driving oft' a male Goldfinch who was singing innocently in the 

 vicinity, the female sneaked up the branch toward the nest, filled her 

 bill with the soft material and flew off. When the Hummingbird re- 

 turned she brought a short piece of something that looked like broom- 

 corn in her bill, which she poked about in her tattered nest. Several 

 times during the day we saw her do this, with what object we could not 

 imagine. " Maybe it was a hummingbird's nail," suggested a baby of 

 five to whom we told the story. But not even hummingbird's nails could 

 mend the nest which disappeared bit by bi.t, carried oft by the Goldfinch 



