1 2 6 BIRDST-NESTS. 



I passed beneath her. The whirring of her wings ar- 

 rested my attention, when, after a short pause, I had 

 the good luck to see, through an opening in the leaves, 

 the bird return to her nest, which appeared like a mere 

 wart or excrescence on a small branch. The'humming- 

 bird, unlike all others, does not alight upon the nest, 

 but flies into it. She enters it as quick as a flash but 

 as light as any feather. Two eggs are the complement. 

 They are perfectly white, and so frail that only a wom- 

 an's fingers may touch them. Incubation lasts about 

 ten days. In a week the young have flown. 



The only nest like the humming-bird's, and compar- 

 able to it in neatness and symmetry, is that of the blue- 

 gray gnatcatcher. This is often saddled upon the limb 

 in the same manner, though it is generally more or less 

 pendent ; it is deep and soft, composed mostly of some 

 vegetable down covered all over with delicate tree-lich- 

 ens, and, except that it is much larger, appears almost 

 identical with the nest of the humming-bird. 



But the nest of nests, the ideal nest, after we have 

 left the deep woods, is unquestionably that of the Bal- 

 timore oriole. It is the only perfectly pensile nest we 

 have. The nest of the orchard oriole is indeed mainly 

 so, but this bird generally builds lower and shallower, 

 more after the manner of the vireos. 



The Baltimore oriole loves to attach its nest to the 

 swaying branches of the tallest elms, making no attempt 

 at concealment, but satisfied if the position be high 

 and the branch pendent. This nest would seem to 



