ut her horse
on the edge of the island and was crossing over to the schoolhouse. A
few moments later the bell rang out so loudly that Billy stepped around
his oak with animation, but the phainopeplas were used to it and showed
no uneasiness.

Before long a flash of white announced a second bird, and then, after a
long interval in which nothing happened, the male pitched into a bush
with beak bristling with building material! My delight knew no bounds.
Instead of nesting in the top of an oak in a remote canyon, as I had
been assured the shy birds would do, here they were building in a low
oak not more than an eighth of a mile from the house, and in plain
sight. Moreover, they were birds who knew me at home, and so would
really be much less afraid than strangers, whatever airs they assumed.
In the photograph, the bare twigs of the perch tree show above the line
of the horizon; the nest tree is the low oak beside it on the right. One
thing puzzled me from the outset. While the male worked on the nest, the
female sat on the outside circle of brush as if having nothing to do, in
spite of the fact that her gray dress toned in so well with the brush
that she was quite inconspicuous, while his shining black coat made him
a clear mark from a distance. What did it mean? I invented all sorts of
fancies to account for it. Had she been to the pepper-trees so much
less than he that she was over-troubled by my presence, and therefore
the gallant black knight who sang to her so sweetly and was so tender of
her, seeing her fears, took the work upon himself? Perchance he had
said, "If you are timid, my love, I will build for you while she is by,
for I would not have you come near if it would disquiet you."

In any event, he built away quite unconcernedly not three rods from
where I sat on the ground staring at him. He would fly to the earth for
material, but return to the nest from above, pitching down to it as if
having nothing to hide. Once, when resting, he perched on the tree, and
I talked to him quite freely. That noon the phainopeplas were at the
house before me, and I went out to talk to them while they lunched to
let them know it was only I who had visited their nest, so they would
have new confidence on the morrow.

But on the morrow they flew to another part of the island, and when we
followed, although I hitched Billy farther away from the nest tree and
sat quietly behind a brush screen, they did not come back. A brown
chip