UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 159 



tenderness and pleading and passion of his heart 

 into his vocal performance. He stressed each note 

 to its highest reach, its most poignant pleading, its 

 mellowest tone, with impassioned gestnres, singing 

 and whistling his complete repertoire; when the 

 hen bird gave a faint cheep of assent, as his notes 

 died to a mere whisper of sound in his throat, their 

 mating was accomplished. 



During a fall expedition in nest collecting made 

 as a basis for the chapter of this book entitled 

 "Nest Building," with my clippers I once cut the 

 main twig of a small thicket of oak sprouts growing 

 around the stump of a tree long felled, to collect what 

 I imagined was a leaf-filled catbird nest. As the 

 severed nest tipped toward me, I caught it with one 

 hand and received directly in my face and over my 

 breast the father, mother, and half a dozen young 

 from a nest of field mice. After recovering from a 

 shock which any woman will understand and few 

 men would covet, I examined the nest to find that 

 it was securely roofed with large sycamore leaves 

 woven and firmly fastened to the outer edge of the 

 nest. The nest cavity under this roof was filled 

 with grasses, feathers, fur, and down. At one 

 side there was a round hole about the size of a silver 

 quarter, which was at a spot convenient for the 

 mice to enter by running up the stem and following 

 out one branch that passed beside the opening. 



