154 A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



trusted us. In any case, I got a lesson on being 

 too prying. The first nest had not been down 

 long before I found that a second one was being 

 built only a few feet away — by the same bird ? 

 I imagined so. The nest was only just begun, 

 and being especially interested to see how such 

 buildings were started, I rode close up to watch 

 the work. A roll of yellow sycamore down was 

 wound around a twig, and the bottom of the nest 

 — the floor — attached to the underside of this 

 beam ; with such a solid foundation, the walls 

 could easily be supported. 



The small builder came when Billy and I were 

 there. She did not welcome us as old friends, 

 but sat down on her floor and looked at us — and 

 I never saw her there again. Worse than that, 

 she took away her nest, presumably to put it down 

 where she thought inquisitive reporters would not 

 intrude. I was disappointed and grieved, hav- 

 ing already planned — on the strength of the 

 first experience — to have the mother hummer's 

 picture taken when she was feeding her young on 

 the nest. 



At first I thought this suspicion reflected upon 

 the good sense of hummingbirds, but after think- 

 ing it over concluded that it spoke better for 

 hummingbirds than for Billy and me. If this 

 were, as I supposed, the same bird who had to 

 brood her young with Billy grazing at the end 

 of her bill, and if she had been present at the 



