270 FRANCIS H. HERRICK 



surface, but is felted over the forked twigs to form a very ser- 

 viceable support; there is almost enough silk to make a spool 

 of thread. Nest No. 2 is intermediate in this respect, being 

 grayish brown, and flecked with spiders' silk and birch bark 

 curls. The last of the three nests suffered from being built in 

 too wide a crotch, without the aid of a subordinate twig as in 

 No. I, to reduce the angle. The strength of suspension, which 

 seemed to satisfy the builder, was so weak that it had to be 

 reinforced to save her eggs. 



Variations in pewee's nests. The wood pewee, like the hum- 

 mingbirds, treats the outer wall of its nest in a highly peculiar 



Figure 13 — Nest of wood pewee (New Hampshire) to illustrate uniform treatment 

 of diverse building materials. See No. 1, table IV, and compare figure 14. Egg 

 inserted to mark level of cup. 



manner, by frescoing it with lichens, or similar vegetable sub- 

 stances, thus rendering it inconspicuous, and done as some 

 think for the purpose, or by way of ornament. 



Of the two nests of this pewee available, the first (fig. 13) 

 was saddled to the horizontal branch of an apple tree of an orchard 

 in New- Hampshire, within easy reach of pine and hemlock 

 woods ; the dimensions in either case are given in table III. It is 

 rather bulky for the bird, and is wholly composed of four kinds 

 of material, light green usnea moss, which is often seen hanging 

 in streamers from the dying branches of crowded pines in damp 



