Not every pair of these small travellers that starts 
_ from as far south as Costa Rica will reach Sitka, for, even 
when all perils have been successfully evaded, they seem 
to have no fixed destination that they must reach. Almost 
any place from the mountains of Arizona to Mount St. Elias, 
from the suburbs of Denver or Portland to the snow rims 
on Mt. Rainier may be the chosen summer home of these 
red or green backed beauties; any Inland Empire thicket, 
any Pacific coast forest may be the site selected for their 
lichen-trimmed nest. 
The flare of their flight has wee enj oo on the banks | 
of f the Columbia, and again at 8,000 feet above sea level on 
Mount Rainier. The workmanship of their nests has 
satisfied the love of perfection in many seekers of the 
beautiful, who have found them poised on tendrils of the ivy 
or upheld by the branches of the fir or the apple tree; for 
desolate and forbidding must be the region which will not 
prove attractive when the desire to build inflames the 
little mother breast. 
A poplar tree in a schoolyard in Seattle was once chosen 
in early April as the favored spot where the spring should 
see again this miracle of nests. This tree shaded the 
windows of the room where forty school babies were happily 
studying their lessons away from the shelter of home. 
A child, as usual, was the first to see that an atom of 
a nest had been started. He whispered this fact to the 
principal, for he had already learned that there is danger 
in too much publicity of such things. It seemed wise to 
arrange a guard of honor for the new home, as other bright — 
eyes would be sure to follow the flight of wings. Three | 
hundred boys were asked, “Do you think you could keep a 
secret?” Like many of their sex, they were sure they 
could do it, and the discovery of one of their number was 
told to all. 
It was arranged that, daily, there would be periods © 
when they might stand behind the drawn wooden shutter 
169 
