364 FRANCIS H. HERRICK 



body, &nd although the successive turnings could not be detected 

 they undoubtedly occurred. By noon of this day the last part 

 of the wall to be filled in looked thin enough to easily admit 

 a lead pencil or a finger, but at its close (6.45 p. m.), this could 

 not be said; the shagginess of the outer walls had mostly 

 disappeared; the bottom was thicker and the walls nearly uni- 

 form throughout. The male w^as not seen, and high winds 

 had hampered the builder throughout the day. 



Work at this nest slowed down very perceptibly on the fourth 

 day (May 17), when the builder was almost completely con- 

 cealed within her pouch. So far as could be ascertained it 

 consisted of adding further lining substances and stitching 

 them in, drawing in more of the outer loose threads and 

 in general completing the symmetry of the pouch. By five 

 o'clock all was quiet at the nest, and neither bird was seen after 

 this time. Activity on the fifth day was still slighter, and 

 was devoted to additions to the lining, to molding and read- 

 justment The period of constructive work in this instance 

 was thus about 4^ days. 



Materials of the Oriole's Nest. — I have seen an oriole's nest 

 made largely of scarlet yarn, and another was found by one 

 of the pupils in the Cleveland schools worked entirely with 

 horse hair. Yet they use with great uniformity the dead leaves 

 of certain grasses and the bleached fibrous tissues of various 

 herbaceous plants, as well as bark strips and hair. Wherever 

 the cotton grass abounds its white fluffy heads are apt to be 

 sewed into the bottom as lining. According to Audubon '^ 

 the Baltimore oriole in Louisiana builds entirely of Spanish 

 moss, without the use of " warming " substances of any kind. 

 His brief description of the building of the nest, implying as 

 he does that the whole is outlined with the laying of the first 

 threads which are made to " cross and recross so as to form 

 an irregular network," is surely at fault. 



Suspension of the Oriole s Nest. — The method of suspension 

 is similar in all the nests of this species examined; a variable 

 number of fibers are passed over or around the primary and 

 secondary supports. I have seen a long piece of cotton twine 

 looped ten times around the main twig and secured at either 

 end into the nest wall. 



^2 Op. cit. vol. 1, p. 68. 



