THE Rl'l'i >rS Ill.MMl'.R. 



397 



uticrctl while wociiui;' his mate. Slie iierclics (|uiftly in llic ci-ntcr nt" sunie 

 small tree. a])])arently quite inseiisil)le to his frenzied act inns. These consist 

 in flying up to a \ery consiilerahlc height, and then dro]i])ing in a circular 

 course to within a few feet of where -lie >ii-~. It is on the downward course 

 that he makes 

 his declaration 

 of love, and if 

 it is done to 

 arouse her he 

 ought to he sue- 



Photo by 

 Finlcy and 

 BohltiMU. 



Kuror> HI 



plodcs uuex- 

 pectedly with 

 in a few feet of 

 his head. 



It is almost 

 unnecessary to 

 say that the 

 nesting habits 

 of these little 

 birds are of un- 

 usual interest. 

 The male is a 



disgracefully idle fellow, never doing a stroke of work while the female is 

 building the nest, and leaving her as soon as the eggs are laid. It seems that 

 at least he might feed her while she sits so |)atieiitly upon her eggs; but no, 

 he retires to some warm, sunny gulch and spends his time in selfish enjoyment. 

 Strange to say, the first nest-building occurs during the first week in 

 April, at which sea.son sleet and cold rains are of not infre(|uent occurrence. 

 This is long before the majority of the species have arrived from the South, 

 and it would lead one to think that the first comers are already jiaired when 

 tiiey arrive. .\ nest containing two fresh eggs was found on the 14th of 

 .April, the eggs hatching on the 26th. On this last date it vv.is raining in 

 torrents with a bitter cold wind, yet the tiny young did not seem to suffer in 

 the least, altbo frcfiuenllv left for as long as fifteen or twentv minutes hv 



