2o8 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. 



