Page:Condor7(4).djvu/4

THE. CO.B.R Volume VII July-August 190.5 Number A Study in Bird Confidence 1:? WILLIAM LOVELL FINLEY WITH PHOTOGRAPHS 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 carefully 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 architectur?l 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.