Vo J' 8 ^ IU ] Merriam, Nesting Habits of Phaiiiopeplu nitens. 41 



the nest 84 times; the female, 11. That is to say, the females 

 made only 13 percent of the visits. In reality, although they 

 went to the nest 1 1 times, the ratio of actual work might safely 

 be much reduced, for in watching them I was convinced that 

 as a rule they came to the nest not to build, but to inspect 

 the building clone by their mates : indeed, at one nest I saw 

 nothing to make me suspect that the female did any of the work. 

 Her coming was usually welcomed by a joyous song, but once the 

 evidence seemed to prove that she was driven away ; perhaps she 

 was too free with her criticisms ! In another case the work was 

 sadly interrupted by the presence of the visitor, for while she sat 

 in the nest her excited mate flew back and forth as if he had quite 

 forgotten the business in hand. In several instances, while the 

 males were at work building, or were guarding the nests, the 

 females went off by themselves, and I saw two of them return 

 home high in the air as if they had come from a distance. I 

 suspected that they had been to lunch at the pepper trees, for they 

 came from that direction. As they approached, their mates who 

 had been sitting about indifferently before, suddenly became 

 alarmed and warned them away from my neighborhood. 



At other times when I rode in, the males would make large 

 circles, seventy-five feet or more above me, as if to get a clear 

 understanding of the impending danger. This was when small 

 nest hunters were about, and the birds were some whose nests I 

 could not find. Those whose nests I studied soon lost their fears, 

 and were perfectly natural at their nests, even answering my calls 

 and attempted imitations of their songs. 



After finding that the males did most of the building, I was 

 anxious to see how it would be when the brooding began. Three 

 of my nests were broken up beforehand, however, and the fourth 

 was despoiled after I had watched the birds on the nest one day. 

 Nevertheless, the evidence of that day was most interesting, as 

 far as it went (see Tables, Nest No. 2, June 25). It proved 

 that while the female lacked the architect's instinct, she was not 

 without the maternal instinct. There were two eggs in the nest, 

 and in the one hour that I watched, each bird brooded the eggs 

 six times. Before this, the female had been to the nest so much 

 less than the male that she was much shyer; but now that the 



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