RED CONSPICUOUS IN PLUMAGE 469 



dicated, his rights enforced, there was no fun in scrap- 

 ping with a vanquished foe; so magnanimously he 

 withdrew from the field. Left alone, the little Vermilion 

 wriggled over right side up, and sat panting but still 

 full of fight. Evidently he did not know when he was 

 beaten. His beady eyes flashed fire, his crest quivered, 

 his wings were spread and his tail raised, while every 

 individual feather bristled with impotent rage. A small 

 brown bird, evidently his mate, flew down near him 

 uttering low chirps. With the unreasonableness of his 

 sex, he turned like a flash upon her and angrily drove 

 her away. After a few moments of rest he was ap- 

 parently as gay as ever, and was off again on his wooing, 

 no whit less ardent for his defeat. 



His nest was discovered in process of construction 

 nine feet from the ground in the mesquite in which his 

 mate had been hiding. It was a shallow affair of small 

 twigs, fine grasses, vegetable fibre, plant down, and web- 

 like stuff probably from a spider's nest or a cocoon. 

 Inside a thin lining of plant down was matted neatly 

 about. On April 24 the first egg was laid, and one each 

 day thereafter until there were three. Twelve and a 

 half days were required for incubation, and during this 

 time I never saw the male nearer to the nest than six 

 feet. The almost naked nestlings were salmon-pinkish ; 

 and, as in the case of most newly hatched birds, the eyes 

 were covered with a membrane. On the fourth day 

 this parted in a slit, giving them a comical, half-awake 

 look, while grayish down stood out thickly on the crown 

 and along the back. On the tenth day they were fairly 



