omes, putting them as far out of
reach as does the Baltimore Oriole. This nest is made of moss and seems
very large when compared with the size of the builder. It is partly hung
from the concealing bough of an evergreen, sometimes quite near the
ground, sometimes swinging far up out of sight." "Does this Kinglet lay
two little white eggs, like the Hummingbird?" asked Nat.

"No," said the Doctor, "this sturdy bird lays eight or ten white eggs
with brown spots."

"Ten eggs!" cried Dodo. "How can it sit on them all at once and keep
them warm enough to hatch?"

"Perhaps the birds stir the eggs up every day to give them all an even
chance," said Rap.

"It is possible that they may," said the Doctor; "but that is one of
many things about home life in Birdland that we do not know.

"There is one thing more that I must tell you here, lest you make a
mistake about the Golden-crowned Kinglet. He has a twin brother, so much
like himself that their own parents can hardly tell them apart without
looking at the tops of their heads. The other twin's name is Ruby-crown,
for he has a beautiful little crest of that color, half hidden in dark
greenish; but not any of the black and yellow marks on the head that
will always enable you to recognize the Golden-crown, if you can get a
chance to see them while the little fellow is fidgeting about. It is a
snug family that contains these two birdlets, for there is only one
other member of it in all this part of the world, and you will not be
likely to see him about Orchard Farm."

The Golden-crowned Kinglet

Length four inches.

Upper parts olive-green, browner on the wings and tail, which have some
yellowish edgings.

A bright-red stripe on the crown, bordered by a yellow and then by a
black line; but young birds and females have only the yellow and black
stripes, without any red.

Under parts soiled white, without any marks.

A Citizen of the United States, and a Tree Trapper.

THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

"'Yank! yank!' says the White-breasted Nuthatch, as he runs up
tree-trunks and comes down again head foremost, quite as a matter of
course.

[Illustration: White-Breasted Nuthatch.]

"At first, or from a distance, you may mistake him for his cousin the
Chickadee, who wears clothes of much the same color and is seen in the
same places; or perhaps for the little Downy Woodpecker, who also
hammers his insect food out of the tree bark.

"But at a second glance you will