YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 555 
him scarcely bigger than your thumb; you have been 
looking for something the size of an oriole at least. But 
there he sits, as perky as if he were of respectable size, 
and sings the ditty over again to prove that he can do it. 
And when you first find his nest, the 
wonder grows. Surely such a mite 
will build a dainty house like that of 
the hummingbird. But not so! <A 
retort-shaped affair, ludicrously out of 
proportion to the 
diminutive archi- 
tect, is woven of 
twigs and stems, 
rach one a heavy 
load for the little 
builders, and lined 
to bursting with 
feathers and flower- 
stems. It is at least 
twenty times the 
size of the mother bird who broods 
in it, and we do not wonder that it \ \\ 
is used summer and winter so long 
; 746. VERDIN. 
as the walls remain firm. One would 
‘* A retort-shaped affair.” 
suppose this one nest were large 
enough to hold both master and mistress of the house- 
hold; but, as if his industry knew no bounds, the male 
constructs his own apartment in the same neighbor- 
hood and occupies it all winter alone. I believe that 
the female constructs her own winter nest, and also 
