208 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



possession of this nest and the roosting-nest 

 built beside it soon after. They were then 

 getting ready for winter and were thoroughly 

 renovating and relining their old domiciles of 

 spring. Frequent trips were made to a gully 

 several hundred yards away, and there from 

 some source I venture to say from some old 

 nest great numbers of feathers and sticks 

 were secured. By utilizing old material the 

 birds were able to save themselves much labor 

 and were able to reconstruct the nests in a 

 remarkably short time. As far as I could see, 

 the remade nests looked as good as the new 

 ones made from fresh materials in the spring 

 season. 



Generally but one bird was about working at 

 a time. When bringing in material the female 

 verdin always hesitatingly paused a moment 

 underneath a twig just beneath the nest before 

 going inside. Having gone in and fixed in its 

 proper place the stick or feather she had se- 

 cured, she flew to a twig which was near by and 

 spent a second or two boasting of her accom- 

 plishment in chippering song. 



