nothing had been seen of the new adult. B mounted into the old oak and began calling. Within a few minutes I saw her stealing through the berry patch to the north, toward the glade. When she arrived, B dived down from the tree and they talked in the bushes. He then sat in a rose near the nest and called softly. The new bird shortly joined them, but on account of her timidity, I did not approach the nest closer than about ten feet, and remained partly concealed. Rustlings and talk proceeded from that direction, and B began making trips for material. On one of his returns, I accompanied him. The new bird was not there, B working diligently in my presence with perfect confidence. I had noticed that he was gathering fine stuff only, although the nest is a mere shadow. This is contrary to procedure with the six earlier nests. I gathered soap-root fibre and ribbons and distributed it nearby. This was at once accepted by B. The new nest is in a tangle of honeysuckle so thick that with a almost little rearrangement of the growth, no foundation of heavy twigs is necessary in order to provide firm support. In fact it would seem entirely practicable to begin the nest without any heavy material to speak of, starting with fine material almost exclu- sively. Examination of the nest itself and B's present operations, show that, to date, this is plan is being followed. Consequently, unless it is altered later, one will, I think, be warranted in the deduction that Brownie, in nest building, is not governed by inherit instinct entirely and thus constrained to follow a preordained plan; but that he is capable of adapting his structure to physical con- ditions as found--promptly and intelligently--even though it involves radical departure from precedent. It remains to be seen whether this anticipation is to be confirmed. In this connection, it may be noted here that all previous structures at this place have absolutely required firm sub-structures, owing to their lo- after they were occupied cations; that some of them have been reenforced by me, and that