THE VERB IN. 57 



branches, singing as hard as he could. I watched them both for at least 

 half an hour, when they disappeared. 



Allowing five days to complete their complement of eggs, I again 

 visited the nest. I cautiously approached and shook the bush, but no 

 bird flew out of the nest. Thereupon I inserted my finger in the small 

 opening on the side of the nest, and I could feel three eggs, and what 

 I thought were some loose feathers. Imagine my surprise and fright, 

 upon withdrawing my finger, at something flying out of the nest, directly 

 into my face. It was the female. A few cries of alarm and responses 

 from her mate, and they were out of sight before I could reach mv gun. 

 Again carefully examining the nest I very plainly felt four eggs. I 

 wanted the birds as well as the eggs, and decided to leave them until 

 another day. when 1 would secure all. Fatal mistake ! for. when it was 

 next visited, the female flew out of the nest before we reached it, was 

 fired at, and missed. I, however, shot the male, and then went for the 

 nest, but lo ! it was empty — not the least vestige of an &^^\ Nothing, 

 in my opinion, could have removed the eggs but the bird itself. It was 

 owing, in all probability, to the disturbance and fright of the previous 

 visit. But why was she back in the nest? About this time three eggs 

 were discovered in another nest, and when visited the day after they 

 were also gone. We were very careful in examining lest we should dis- 

 turb the eggs. Can it be possible that with the least touch the parent 

 bird abandons her eggs? Two nests that we found had been torn open 

 from above, evidently by some jay or other robber. Out of the six new 

 nests found between Ap.il 2S and May 10 we were only able to obtain 

 one ^^^'g. and that was probably an infertile one as the balance of the 

 clutch had hatched and taken their departure. One nest was brought 

 me on May i with three young about ready to leave. 



Their nests are simply wonderful, far excelling, to my mind, all other 

 bird architecture of our fauna. Think of the size varying from four to 

 ten inches in diameter: then think of the size of the bird, but little 

 larger than a humming-bird ! The shape is like a bottle, or, better, like 

 a retort, with the mouth at one side and inclining downward. I found 

 the nest built on and around one (in one instance two) horizontal branch. 

 The body is composed of thorny twigs interwoven with wood-moss, 

 grass and bark. The lining is of the softest down and feathers, not 

 loosely thrown in, but woven into a sort of matting, covering not only 

 the whole of the interior body of the retort, or nest proper, biit also the 

 neck to the very mouth. The distance from the mouth to the Q'g^ is 

 sometimes six inches. The place selected is usually the extremity of a 

 branch of an exposed bush, and easily approached. The highest nest 

 was six feet, the lowest less than three feet, from the ground. There 

 they swing, free to every '"norther" until they fall to pieces from decay. 

 The only locality in which we found their nests was open chaparral, on 



