50 A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



packing them tightly in together; while at the 

 same time they gave form to the nest and kept 

 it trim and shipshape by moulding inside, and 

 smoothing the rim and outside with neck and bill. 

 Sometimes the bird would smooth the brim as a 

 person sharpens a knife on a whetstone, a stroke 

 one way and then a stroke the other. When the 

 sides were not much above the floor, one bird 

 came with a bit of material which it proceeded to 

 drill into the body of the wall. It leaned over 

 and threw its whole weight on it, almost going 

 head first out of the nest, and had to flutter its 

 wings to recover itself. The birds usually got in- 

 side to build, but there was a twig beside the nest 

 that served for scaffolding, and they sometimes 

 stood on that to work at the outside. 



At first they seemed to take turns at building, 

 working rapidly and changing places quite regu- 

 larly ; but one morning when seated under the 

 oak I saw that things were not as they had been. 

 Perhaps a difference of opinion had arisen on 

 architectural points, and Mrs. Gnatcatcher had 

 taken matters into her own hands. At all events, 

 this is what happened : instead of rapid changes 

 of place, when one of the gnats was at work its 

 mate flew up and started to go to the nest, hesi- 

 tated, and backed away ; then unwilling to give 

 up having a finger in the pie, advanced again. 

 This was kept up till the little bird put its pride 

 in its pocket, and gently gave over its cherished 

 bit of material to its mate at the nest ! 



