. Birds of California; an introduction to more than three hundred common birds of the state and adjacent islands, with a supplementary list of rare migrants, accidental visitants, and hypothetical subspecies . thumb; you have beenlooking for something the size of an oriole at least. Butthere he sits, as perky as if he were of respectable size,and sings the ditty over again to prove that he can do when you first find his nest, thewonder grows. Surely such a mitewill build a dainty house like that ofthe hummingbird. But not so! Aretort-shaped affair, ludicrously out ofproportion to thedim
. Birds of California; an introduction to more than three hundred common birds of the state and adjacent islands, with a supplementary list of rare migrants, accidental visitants, and hypothetical subspecies . thumb; you have beenlooking for something the size of an oriole at least. Butthere he sits, as perky as if he were of respectable size,and sings the ditty over again to prove that he can do when you first find his nest, thewonder grows. Surely such a mitewill build a dainty house like that ofthe hummingbird. But not so! Aretort-shaped affair, ludicrously out ofproportion to thediminutive archi-tect, is woven oftwigs and steins,each one a heavyload for the littlebuilders, and linedto bursting withfeathers and flower-stems. It is at least (twenty times thesize of the mother bird who broodsin it,-and we do not wonder that itis used summer and winter so longas the walls remain firm. One wouldsuppose this one nest were largeenough to hold both master and mistress of the house-hold ; but, as if his industry knew no bounds, the maleconstructs his own apartment in the same neighbor-hood and occupies it all winter alone. I believe thatthe female constructs her own winter nest, and also. 746. retort-shaped affair. 556 LAND BIRDS the breeding nest in cases where the winter nest is notused for that purpose. The architecture of the two issomewhat different in those I have observed, the nestbuilt by the female being larger, more carefully lined,and with a decided hollow in the centre of the beddingmaterial as if to keep the babies from rolling out. Thenest of the male was simply a hollow gourd-shaped affairwith little or no lining, and might pass for a dummy nestsuch as there is reason to believe he does occasionallybuild. Every nest found had a neck-like entrance ex-tending downward and ending in a round hole. Theywere all located in mesquite thickets within six feet ofthe ground, and most of them were easy to watch. Inten days after the last bluish white e
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Keywords: ., bookauthorwhee, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds
