Bird lore - Project Puffin

A Domestic Tragedy i6i
with bits of paper which he was using to adorn the exterior, and not until then
did I discover, for the first time, the female sitting on a higher branch nearby,
watching carefully so that no harm might befall the nest. Fearing I might be
attracting too much attention I left for the day. The following morning the
birds were nowhere in sight. My first impulse was to examine the nest more
closely and I ventured to do so. It was made of dead and withered grasses, a
few pine needles loosely arranged, and the pieces of wax paper all firmly inter-
woven. The whole, however, had a somewhat unfinished appearance. The next
BLUE-HEADED VIREO AND NEST
day I found the male bird twisting and turning himself in the nest, first this
way, then that way, until he secured what seemed to him a perfectly comfor-
table shape. A few moments later he departed only to return with a mouthful
of cobwebs with which he engaged himself about the edges of the nest. Very
shortly, however, all was completed, and with a satisfied chatter he flew to a
higher perch. Just then, however, the female reached the scene. Without
ceremony she thrust herself into the nest to pass her judgment upon it, and
woe and betide the masculine conceit. It proved far from satisfactory. She
flew to a higher perch and uttered a few low guttural tones as much as to say,
"Do you call this a perfect nest? I thought you knew how to build a better
nest than that. It certainly does not meet my approval. I refuse to live in it
until it is made satisfactory." The next day it had been perfected to suit her
whims and fancies for I found her on the nest when I arrived. I was very cu-
rious to know whether eggs were actually present. Another visit in the after-