SOME OTHER BIRDS AT WORK. Q1 
We feel quite sure that we can tame almost any home 
bird at nesting time. A goldfinch! has just built her 
nest in an apple tree near our house. We have tamed 
the mother bird so that we can smooth her feathers on 
her neck and breast with our fingers while she is sit- 
ting on the nest. At first we took leaves in our hand 
and touched her with them. She did not care for the 
leaves; they were all about her in the tree. Gradually 
we dropped the leaves, until she was not afraid of our 
hands. 
We wished to take a photograph of her, and did so 
one very warm day. She sat in the heat, with her 
wings lifted to let the air through, and her bill parted 
as if she were panting. ‘The father bird comes to feed 
her on the nest, just as their young are fed, with his bill 
in hers. ‘These finches are nurslings, you know, and 
are fed on prepared food. 
The oriole? is a very interesting bird with us. She 
chooses to hang her hammock or cradle beneath a festoon 
of thick leaves on a swaying bough, or from a drooping 
twig. Here she prefers a broad green banana leaf or 
the great leaf of a fan palm. These leaves are good 
shelter from the sunshine. 
The banana leaf is about five feet long, and doubles 
on its midrib like a book cover during the middle of 
the day. At night and early in the morning, when it 
is cool, the leaf opens better, and it is then that the bird 
works at her hammock. When the pouch is finished, 
1 Spinus psaltria. * Icterus cucullatus nelsoni. 
