156 WINGED ROBBERS AND NEST-BUILDERS. 



the eggs or young ; so it continues its work, until it 

 finds a place free from impending danger. Often- 

 times, however, after having dug a short distance 

 and met with obstructions, it abandons the work, 

 and commences in a new place. I have seen many 

 such beginnings along the banks of the Piscataqua 

 River in the vicinity of Fox Point, N. H., where 

 large numbers of this species make their homes. 



In preparing for a fresh start it clings perpen- 

 dicularly to the cliff and buries its long claws in 

 the sand, as if to secure a suitable fulcrum ; then 

 with its short brad-awl-like beak goes to work with 

 a will. The whole body seems to be in violent 

 agitation and moves slowly, like an eccentric in an 

 engine, as it rapidly picks from the centre outward. 

 Both the male and the female, I believe, are en- 

 gaged in this work, as is usually the case with 

 those birds that take extra pains in preparing a 

 nesting-place. In a week, or perhaps more if the 

 sand is hard and the tunnel is long, the mining is 

 completed and the pair proceed to upholster the 

 nest cavity with hay and feathers, ready for the 

 five pure white eggs and the young miners which, 

 if their house is dark and moist, are made comfort- 

 able and warm by the bountiful supply of insect 

 food brought to them by their parents. 



