76 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



out of the open window. They had, no doubt, in the 

 first place, come in at this hole and chased the swallows 

 out of the window, and so they continued to the end 

 as they had commenced. 



The female at first refused to place the sticks she 

 brought, but dropping them on the hay, would fly close 

 to me in a spiteful way, and then pass out of the win- 

 dow. At last she concluded to go on with the work, 

 and I had the satisfaction of seeing the nest com- 

 pleted. It was built close up to the roof, only space 

 enough left for them to enter. 



I have often played with birds, evidently making 

 them think that I was afraid, and that they were really 

 driving me. One summer a pair of kingbirds {Tyran- 

 n us carolinensis) drove me about for a long time. They 

 had built close to the piazza, and had become quite 

 tame before they found how afraid I was of them. 



The rose-bugs were very numerous at this time, and 

 I soon found that the kingbirds were helping me exter- 

 minate them : they would alight on a rose-bush and de- 

 vour the bugs greedily. As they came near to me I 

 would cautiously move farther away ; this the birds 

 were quick to notice, and soon became so bold that 

 they would drive me from bush to bush. After the 

 bugs had entirely disappeared, when I went to the 

 bushes to cut flowers the birds would often drive me 

 away, and then hunt over the bushes, as if they ^bought 

 my sole business was bug-hunting. 



