186 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



pocket a round doorway is made, just large enough 

 for one bird to pass in and out. We have seen a 

 doorway in the top, as well, and in one single 

 nest there were three doors. But this is not 

 common. Just one door is the rule, and that one 

 is placed on the south side of the nest, probably 

 so our northeast storms will not drive in. 



At the bottom of the pocket, on a soft lining of 

 wool or plant-down, the eggs are placed. The 

 young remain in the nest until full-feathered, and 

 when they come out they are exactly the same 

 color as, and but a little smaller than, their 

 parents. In our garden they remain about the 

 home-tree for several weeks, like the humming- 

 birds, sitting on a twig at night, snuggled all in a 

 row, like peas, with a parent bird on either side. 



The bush-tits have built in the same pepper 

 tree in our grounds for years. They are fearless 

 of us, and accept bits of things we place in sight 

 for their nests. 



We have brought in old nests from the foothills 

 and placed them in sight of the bush-tits, when 

 they would pull them to pieces and use every bit 

 in their new nest. Once we placed surgeon's 

 absorbent cotton in sight of the bush-tits, and it 

 made them fairly wild. They could carry more 

 of this cotton than of any material they had ever 



