THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS 79 



peared to make a clean sweep of every nest. The 

 wood pewee builds an exquisite nest, shaped and 

 finished as if cast in a mould. It is modeled with- 

 out and within with equal neatness and art, like 

 the nest of the hummingbird and the little gray 

 gnatcatcher. The material is much more refractory 

 than that used by either of these birds, being, in 

 the present case, dry, fine cedar twigs; but these 

 were bound into a shape as rounded and compact as 

 could be moulded out of the most plastic material. 

 Indeed, the nest of this bird looks precisely like 

 a large, lichen-covered, cup-shaped excrescence of 

 the limb upon which it is placed. And the bird, 

 while sitting, seems entirely at her ease. Most 

 birds seem to make very hard work of incubation. 

 It is a kind of martyrdom which appears to tax all 

 their powers of endurance. They have such a 

 fixed, rigid, predetermined look, pressed down into 

 the nest and as motionless as if made of cast-iron. 

 But the wood pewee is an exception. She is 

 largely visible above the rim of the nest. Her atti- 

 tude is easy and graceful; she moves her head this 

 way and that, and seems to take note of whatever 

 goes on about her; and if her neighbor were to 

 drop in for a little social chat, she could doubtless 

 do her part. In fact, she makes light and easy 

 work of what, to most other birds, is such a serious 

 and engrossing matter. If it does not look like 

 play with her, it at least looks like leisure and 

 quiet contemplation. 



There is no nest-builder that suffers more from 



