(432) Both working. He then carried a twig up to the nest, Brownie stepping off to give him access, and for the next 15 minutes, he did not leave the nest at all. During part of that period Brownie brought up twigs which they both arranged. A good part of the time was occupied in trying to remove interfering twigs, which seemed to annoy them greatly and in rearranging those already in the nest. Several times they appeared to make an effort to flatten out the mass by sitting down on it hard and turning to face in different directions while doing this. Greenie left after 15 minutes to explore about the immediate vicinity, singing sub-song intermittently, while Brownie continued at the nest for another 20 minutes. During this time she carried up several twigs. Once, while she was on the ground, I tossed her one which she took. Both of them frequently rested and seemed to study the situation, standing on top of the crude mass, looking closely at all portions of it, and, it seemed, hopelessly. I would not blame them if this were their states of mind, for the first stage of a nest must be discouraging. The twigs have little tendency to stay where they are placed until there is a sufficient weight in place and enough forks and prongs caught more or less at random on the growing twigs of the tree, to give some stability. Again merely to carry a twig to the nesting site is a fight all the way as soon as the bird tries to force its way through the foliage and deadwood inside the tree. It is like trying to pull a cat backwards by the tail across a carpet. About 11:15 I went to Dorm.A, removed a few obstructing twigs and placed a few loose ones near the nest. When I had a thrasher call not far away, I removed the ladder and sat almost under the nest, which would then be about 6 feet from my head. In a few minutes Brownie came and got two or three worms, went up to the nest, found the loose twigs and began putting them in the nest. She then came down under the nest and pulled out loose twigs that were hanging down and carried them up on top. She seemed not to mind my presence Takes twig from me. B used twigs furnished.