OTHER NEIGHBORS IN THE TREES. 219 



green leaf, forming a complete canopy, about an inch and 

 a half above it. The repeated spiteful dartings of the bird 

 past my ears, as I stood under the tree, caused mo to sus- 

 pect that I was intruding upon some one's privacy ; and, 

 following it with my eye, I soon saw the nest, which was 

 in process of construction. Adopting my usual tactics of 

 secreting myself near by, I had the satisfaction of seeing 

 the tiny artist at work. It was the female, unassisted by 

 her mate. At intervals of two or three minutes she would 

 appear with a small tuft of some cottony substance in her 

 beak, dart a few times through and around the tree, and, 

 alighting quickly in the nest, arrange the material she had 

 brought, using her breast as the model. 



2. The other nest I discovered in a dense forest on the 

 side of a mountain. The sitting bird was disturbed as I 

 passed beneath her. The whirring of her wings arrested 

 my attention, when, after a short pause, I had the good 

 luck to see, through an opening in the leaves, the bird re- 

 turn to her nest, which appeared like a mere wart or ex- 

 crescence on a small branch. The humming-bird, unlike 

 all others, does not alight upon the nest, but flies into it. 

 She enters it as quick as a flash, but as light as any feather. 

 Two eggs are the complement. They are perfectly white, 

 and so frail that only a woman's fingers may touch them. 

 Incubation lasts about ten days. In a week the young 

 have flown. 



3. But the nest of nests, the ideal nest, after we have 

 left the deep woods, is unquestionably that of the Balti- 

 more oriole. It is the only perfectly pensile nest we have. 

 The nest of the orchard oriole is indeed mainly so, but this 

 bird generally builds lower and shallower, more after the 

 manner of the vireos. 



4. The Baltimore oriole loves to attach its nest to the 



swaying branches of the tallest elms, making no attempt at 



concealment, but satisfied if the position be high and the 

 1G 



