Nesting Time. 



sparrow, both migrants which have been 

 scarcely a month with us, have begun 

 nest building. The vireo's nest is one 

 of those exquisite bits of bird art which 

 fill us with a sense of wonder. It is a 

 compact little basket of grasses, woven 

 together and securely lashed from its 

 rim to a fork of a slender, swaying 

 branch. The eggs are white, with a 

 faint pinkish blush when fresh, and 

 dotted with brown. Happy must be 

 the life of the little ones that emerge 

 from them, in that graceful hanging 

 basket, sheltered overhead by the 

 spreading leaves and swayed by every 

 gentlest breeze. The father bird is a 

 tireless songster, and his loud, sweet 

 warble is one of the delights of May. 

 Bullock's oriole, with a still more 

 wonderful hanging basket to contain the 

 white, curiously scrawled and spotted 

 eggs, also commences the home cares 

 late in April. The demure little west- 

 ern flycatcher makes her mossy nest in 

 some crevice in the bank beside a stream, 



21 I 



