192 FRANCIS H. HERRICK 



There are birds which build suspended or semi-pensile nests 

 but without the effective weaving and compactness seen in 

 either an oriole or a vireo. I refer to the kinglets. The golden- 

 crowned kinglet {Regulus satrapa) fashions a rather large and 

 loose nest upon and around a drooping cluster of twigs of some 

 evergreen tree. One which I have particularly examined '* is 

 nearly spherical with entrance at top, and is composed of green 

 moss {Hypnuni unciatum), lichens from spruce bark, spiders' 

 silk and feathers, and is lined with feathers and hair. When 

 found it was said to be strong, light, and elastic, but seemed 

 to lose its consistency upon drying. It was built upon a droop- 

 ing spray of the black spruce, at a point about i\ feet from 

 the tip of the branch, 4 feet from the trunk, and 25 feet from 

 the ground. 



Magnolia warblers occasionally build what may be called 

 pseudo-pendent nests ; they are fixed rather weakly to forking 

 twigs, and rest upon underlying sprays, which thus contribute 

 to their support (fig. 3). Examination of their structure indi- 

 cates that they are built from the base up, and not from the 

 fork downward, and outward, as in a vireo. (Compare fig. 5.) 

 They are rather thin and loosely modelled, but hold up their 

 weight easily when the underlying twigs are cut away.^* 



It is not necessary to dwell upon the fact that a classification 

 of nests does not usually accord with a classification of their 

 builders ; while in certain families the type form of the nest is 

 fairly constant, in others it is highly variable, and this variation 

 often extends to different species of the same genus. Of indi- 

 vidual variation we shall speak in the next section. 



'* For this as well as for many other interesting nests I am indebted to Miss 

 Cordelia J. Stanwood, of Ellsworth, Maine. 



** For an account of the nests of this warbler, by Cordelia J. Stanwood, see The 

 Auk, vol. xxvii, p. 384. Cambridge, 1910. 



