A BIRD'B-NEST HUNTER. 79 



sisters, brooding upon a ground nest ; and 

 it illustrates what has been said about vari- 

 ety of temperament that the second bird 

 received me in a very quiet, self-contained 

 manner ; giving me to understand, to be 

 sure, that my visit was ill-timed and un- 

 welcome, but not acting at all as if I were 

 some ogre, the very sight of which must per- 

 force drive a body crazy. 



In the course of the season I found three 

 nests of the rose-breasted grosbeak. The 

 first, to my surprise, was in the topmost 

 branches of a tall sweet-birch, perhaps forty 

 feet above the ground. I noticed the female 

 flying into the grove with a load of building 

 materials, and a little later (as soon as my 

 engagement with an interesting company of 

 gray-cheeked thrushes would permit) I fol- 

 lowed, and almost at once saw the pair at 

 their work. And a very pretty exhibition 

 it was, so pretty that I returned the next 

 morning to see more of it. It must be ad- 

 mitted that the labor seemed rather un- 

 equally divided : the female not only fetched 

 all the sticks, but took upon herself the en- 

 tire business of construction, her partner's 

 contribution to the enterprise being limited 



