DO BIRDS IMPROVE AS ARCHITECTS? 69 



former, fairly entrancing me with his song. Seated 

 upon the topmost branch of some swaying tree, he 

 seemed to drown all the other choristers near by; 

 in fact, they, too, seemed entranced, and soon were si- 

 lent listeners. All the other feathered inhabitants of 

 the grove had already commenced house - keeping, or 

 were making active preparations, while this lord of 

 song seemed to have no care or thought of the future. 

 June came. The bird "was trilling his loudest note, 

 when right in the midst of his song he paused. His 

 mate had stopped the grand performance. He flew 

 with her to the shrubbery, where they flitted about 

 from bush to bush a few moments, finally selecting a 

 place for building in a rose-bush, which was supported 

 by a trellis. The foundation of the nest was laid partly 

 upon the trellis. 



I took a garden-chair, drew my hat pretty well over 

 my face — birds are good observers, and we must man- 

 age with care or we shall alarm them — and watched 

 their proceedings. The female was evidently the mas- 

 ter-workman, and kept a watchful eye upon the mate, 

 who came every few moments with such crooked, 

 branched twigs that she often could do nothing with 

 them but throw them down in a spiteful way ; her own 

 selections were much better, and were almost invariably 

 used. If she were away when the mate arrived, he at 

 once proceeded to place his crooked stick — he evidently 

 did not believe in wasting material in such a reckless 

 way ; but this hindered the completion of the domicile, 



