58 



Wild Birds. 



mouth agape when uncomfortably 

 warm, but is never seen to erect the 

 feathers generally, as many birds do 

 in order to keep cool. Nothing es- 

 caped that came within range of their 

 sharp eyes and bills. One of the 

 photographs shows the male on the 

 farther side of the nest with cherry in 

 beak and full neck, while the mother, 

 with back to the camera, gives her 

 neck a peculiar twist and looks be- 

 hind her. While I was watching the 

 performance, a bird of another spe- 

 cies, which I was unable to recognize, 

 dashed up, alighted for a moment on 

 the top of my tent, and giving out a 

 harsh chatter, disappeared. 



One day in July I happened to 

 see a Cedar-bird tugging at the frayed 

 ends of a cord which had been fast- 

 ened to a branch of one of the fir 



Fig. 41. Regurgitating food. Up goes the head, 

 and presto ! out comes a berry. 



trees, close by our house. Taking 

 the hint I placed a quantity of red 

 and blue yarn on the branches, and 

 on some bean poles near the nesting 

 site. Every thread was taken from 

 the fir and worked into what became -(^ 

 a ver\' gay mansion. It was placed ^ 

 on a spreading apple bough, at a 

 fork in the limb and between upright 

 shoots, fifteen feet from the ground. 

 The blue yarn was in e.xcess of the 

 red, but I am sure this meant nothing 

 to the birds. The\' simply took what 

 was provided, and had all been red, 

 it \vould have been accepted. 



These birds were most expedi- 

 tious, for in two days the last straw 

 \vas in place, and in si.x; da\'s from 

 the start four eggs had been laid and 

 incubation begun. Ten da)'s later 

 three of these eggs had hatched into 



Fig. 42. She hears a suspicious sound. 



