YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 555 



him scarcely bigger than your thumb ; you have been 

 looking for something the size of an oriole at least. But 

 there he sits, as perky as if he were of respectable size, 

 and sings the ditty over again to prove that he can do it. 

 And when you first find his nest, the 

 wonder grows. Surely such a mite 

 will build a dainty house like that of 

 the hummingbird. But not so ! A 

 retort-shaped affair, ludicrously out of 

 proportion to the 

 diminutive archi- 

 tect, is woven of 

 twigs and steins, 

 each one a heavy 

 load for the little 

 builders, and lined 

 to bursting with 

 feathers and flower- 

 stems. It is at least ( 

 twenty times the 

 size of the mother bird who broods 

 in it,- and we do not wonder that it 

 is used summer and winter so long 

 as the walls remain firm. One would 

 suppose this one nest were large 

 enough to hold both master and mistress of the house- 

 hold ; but, as if his industry knew no bounds, the male 

 constructs his own apartment in the same neighbor- 

 hood and occupies it all winter alone. I believe that 

 the female constructs her own winter nest, and also 



746. Verdin. 

 "A retort-shaped affair." 



