s quite regularly; but one morning when seated under the
oak I saw that things were not as they had been. Perhaps a difference of
opinion had arisen on architectural points, and Mrs. Gnatcatcher had
taken matters into her own hands. At all events, this is what happened:
instead of rapid changes of place, when one of the gnats was at work its
mate flew up and started to go to the nest, hesitated, and backed away;
then unwilling to give up having a finger in the pie, advanced again.
This was kept up till the little bird put its pride in its pocket, and
gently gave over its cherished bit of material to its mate at the nest!

Now as these gnatcatchers had the bad taste to dress so nearly alike
that I could not tell them apart, I was left to my own surmises as to
which took the material. Still, who could it have been but Mrs. Gnat?
Would she give over the house to Mr. Gnat at this critical moment? She
doubtless wanted to decorate as she went along, and men aren't supposed
to know anything about such trivial matters! On the other hand, it might
easily be he, for, supposing he had come of a family of superior
builders, surely he would want to see to the laying of substantial
walls; and unquestionably a good wall was the important part of this
nest. Alas! it was a clear case of "The Lady or the Tiger." To
complicate matters, the birds worked so fast, so high over my head, and
so hidden by the leaves, that I had much ado to keep track of their
exchanges at all. If I could only catch them and tie a pink ribbon
around one of their necks!--then, at least, I would know which was doing
what, or if it was doing what it hadn't done before! It is inconsiderate
enough of birds to wear the same kind of clothes, but to talk alike too,
when hidden by the leaves--that, indeed, is a straw to break the camel's
back. If small gray gnatcatchers up in the treetops had only been big
black magpies low in the brush, my testimony regarding their
performances might be of more value; but then, the magpies of my
acquaintance were so shy they would have none of me; so although life
and field work are full of disappointments, they are also full of
compensations.

Not being able to do anything better with the gnat problems, I guessed
at which was which--when I saw No. 2 go to the nest and No. 1
reluctantly make way as if not wanting No. 2 to meddle, I drew my own
conclusions, although they were not scientifically final. I did see one
thing that was satisf