82 A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



nocent person gets resentful ; at any rate, I was 

 going to see that nest. Creeping up cautiously 

 when the mother bird was away, so as not to 

 scare her, and carefully parting the mallows, I 

 looked in. Yes, there it was, a beautiful little 

 sage-green nest of old grass laid in a coil. I felt 

 as pleased as if having a right to share the family 

 happiness. 



After that I watched the small worker gather 

 material with new interest, knowing where she 

 was going to put it. She worked fast, but did 

 not take the first thing she found, by any means. 

 With a flit of the wing she went in nervous haste 

 from cockle to cockle, looking eagerly about her. 

 Jumping down to the ground, she picked up a bit 

 of grass, threw it down dissatisfied, and turned 

 away like a person looking for something. At 

 last she lit on the side of a thistle, and tweaking 

 out a fibre flew with it to the nest. 



When the house was done, one morning in 

 passing I leaned down from the saddle, and 

 through the weeds saw her brown wings as she 

 sat on the nest. A month after the first en- 

 counter with the father lazuli, I found him look- 

 ing at me around the corner of a cockle stalk, 

 and in passing back again caught him singing 

 full tilt, though his bill was full of insects ! After 

 we had turned our backs, I looked over my shoul- 

 der and had the satisfaction of seeing him take 

 his beakful to the nest. You could n't help admir- 



