A Gnatcatcher's Troubles 



By R. D. BOOK, M.D., Corning, Ohio 



TWO little Blue-Gray Gnatcatcbers were building their nest. Each day 

 it grew larger and larger. Both were doing the work but I judged that 

 the female was the busier. As she arrived with each new particle of 

 material, she would settle down into the nest and turn about to see that it 

 was snug-fitting yet comfortable, then she would dispose of her new material 

 and fly away for more. In a few days it was finished and both of them seemed 

 to be extraordinarily proud of their work. They hung around the nest, jealous 

 of other birds, and took, for such little beings, an amazing amount of comfort 

 in their possession. 



The next day I visited the spot again. There was no nest — nothing but a 

 few torn fragments hanging desolate from the crotch of the young oak tree 

 where had been but a day before a most beautiful little bird creation. Off in 

 the grove I could hear the tiny little voices of the Gnatcatchers, however, and 

 I thought to search them out and try to console them in some way for the out- 

 rage that had been committed by boys who are uncontrolled by parents, 

 teachers, and a set of officials who labor under the mistaken idea that young 

 outlaws can be influenced by kind words, baby talk, thieves' slang, and puerfle 

 piffle. 



The little birds needed no consolation from me, however. They were so 

 busy that they scarcely deigned to notice me — or else they were acquainted 

 with me and knew they would not be harmed. I stood near them a long time 

 and watched them building another home. Already it was well under way. 

 It, too, was buflt next to the trunk of a small oak sapHng, in a crotch where a 

 small limb joined the trunk, about eight feet from the ground and two hundred 

 feet from the former location. The nest was not at all inconspicuous and was 

 easier to reach than the first one. 



This time both birds were equally busy. The male sang his squeaky little 

 song and hurried back and forth with material, each time getting down into 

 the nest, depositing his small leaf or bit of fiber, reaching over the sides of the 

 nest and meticulously tucking it in with his needle-like biU. If one bird reached 

 the tree before the other was quite through he would wait patiently on a limb 

 while the other completed his work hurriedly and flew swiftly away for more 

 material. There was no jealousy or impatience on the part of the female 

 such as is often seen. They worked in complete harmOny and were apparently 

 as happy as birds can be — seemingly having forgotten their misfortune in the 

 new task that confronted them. 



The nest was half built when a Wood Pewee, flitting about as is his wont, 

 in search of small winged insects, innocently alighted on a branch of the young 

 oak about five feet from the nest. He was merely taking a rest, but the Gnat- 

 catcher flew at him furiously. There was no argument, no quarrel, no declara- 



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