The Birds and Poets 93 



point was perpendicular and about eight feet high, 

 I watched the birds for about twenty minutes, hop- 

 ing and expecting that they would fly to their nest 

 somewhere among the roots. But the two little fly- 

 catchers only darted about snapping insects and 

 made no effort to approach their nest. I felt so 

 certain, however, that the nest would be found 

 among the roots, that without waiting longer I 

 climbed down the bank where I could examine the 

 roots closely, and looked them all over very care- 

 fully, and was considerably surprised and non- 

 plussed to find no nest. Exposed roots of this kind 

 are in high favor with these birds as nesting sites. 

 I went over every inch of the ground several times, 

 and peered into all the corners and grottos, and 

 examined every root individually, but no nest was 

 to be seen. I climbed up the bank again and 

 looked over the lower branches of the trees, but no 

 nest was visible. In desperation I got down again 

 under the roots, and extended my search farther up 

 the bank, when at last I caught sight of the nest 

 hung like a little round basket on a small root run- 

 ning along parallel to the bank, and about three 

 inches from it, the nest being saddled across the 

 root, and supported on one side by the perpendicu- 

 lar wall of the bank. It was almost directly under 

 the point where I had stretched myself on the bank 

 to watch the birds, which accounted for their 

 refusal to go near it. I laid myself down on the 

 sod above, and looked into the nest, which con- 

 tained four very young birds. The nest of mud 



