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Volume VII 
July-August 1905 
Number A 
A Study in Bird Confidence 
BY WILLIAM LOVELL FINLEY 
WITH I’HOTOGRATHS BY HERMAN T. BOHLMAN 
I LAY on my back under the hemlock and marvelled at the little mansion hang- 
ing in the glint of the warm June sun. Yes, a real bird mansion; not open- 
roofed for impudent passers-by to spy out family secrets; not set in a crotch so 
it could be tipped over or blown out, but carefull)^ tied, cradle-like, to the droop- 
ing branches. 
It is not an easy matter to get a site suited for a bush-tit’s mansion. There 
should be one or two firm upright twigs, about which to weave the walls, a cross 
branch or two for rafters, and, if the house is to be modern, a little support for a 
porch or promenade. Contrary to our first maxim of architectural success, these 
little builders begin at the top and build down. Each is the architect of his own 
home and each is a born master-builder. 
Once I found a bush-tit’s nest twenty inches long. The little weavers had 
started their home on a limb and apparently it was not low enough to suit them, 
for they wove a fibrous strap ten inches long and then swung their gourd-shaped 
nest to that, so that it hung in a tussock of willow leaves. 
We happened to find the nest in the hemlock when they were putting in the 
first spider-web cross-beams and supports. It took days to furnish the home. At 
first we were put in the same category with small boys and sparrow hawks. They 
wouldn’t go near the nest for fear we would see it. But a titmouse might make 
twenty resolutions not to trust and the very next minute he’d throw himself and 
all his hopes right into your arms. There wasn’t a bit of suspicion in his little 
body, but his race had suffered so long that a good bit of caution had been em- 
bedded in his tiny brain. 
