A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GRASS 239 



crimson, orange, green, yellow, and blue, was 

 distributed about the grounds. As we sat at 

 dinner a few moments later I saw the eager bird 

 flying up toward her nest with one of these 

 brilliant yarns streaming behind her. They 

 had caught her eye at once, and she fell to 

 work upon them with a will; not a bit daunted 

 by their brilliant color, she soon had a crim- 

 son spot there amid the green leaves. She af- 

 forded us rare amusement all the afternoon 

 and the next morning. How she seemed to 

 congratulate herself over her rare find! How 

 vigorously she knotted those strings to her 

 branch and gathered the ends in and sewed 

 them through and through the structure, jerk- 

 ing them spitefully like a housewife burdened 

 with many cares! How savagely she would fly 

 at her neighbor, an oriole that had a nest just 

 over the fence a few yards away, when she in- 

 vaded her territory! The male looked on ap- 

 provingly, but did not ofl'er to lend a hand. 

 There is something in the manner of the female 

 on such occasions, something so decisive and 

 emphatic, that one entirely approves of the 

 course of the male in not meddling or ofl'ering 

 any suggestions. It is the wife's enterprise, and 

 she evidently knows her own mind so well that 

 the husband keeps aloof, or plays the part of 

 an approving spectator. 



The woolen yarn was ill-suited to the Ken- 

 tucky climate. This fact the bird seemed to 

 appreciate, for she used it only in the upper 

 part of her nest, in attaching it to the branch 



