374 THE INDIGO BIRD. 



was secured in a short time. What human skill and patience 

 could ever construct an object like this ? Placed in a crotch 

 near the top of a young tree or sapling, sometimes between 

 nearly upright limbs and the trunk, anywhere from 6 to 20 

 feet high, it is compactly woven of fine fibrous materials, 

 fitted together and often ornamented with vegetable down 

 or cottony substances, not infrequently intermixed with the 

 scales of leaf-buds, and lined with the finest of bark and 

 grass-fibers. 



I have before me a nest, externally much taller than 

 usual, since it contains two Cow-bird's eggs, successively 

 deposited, and built out of sight at different depths, some- 

 thing like the Yellow Warbler's nest described by Wilson. 

 It also has several feathers, of some small bird's tail, stuck 

 obliquely about half-way into the rim. The eggs, commonly 

 4, averaging about .65 x -50, are white, more or less specked 

 or spotted all over, but chiefly around the large end, with 

 reddish-brown and lilac. 



Wintering in the tropics, the Redstart arrives here on the 

 first days of May. It is common in Eastern North America, 

 generally breeding northward. I found it very common in 

 the latitudes of Manitoulin Island and Nova Scotia. 



THE INDIGO BIRD. 



As I reach a more open part of the woods, seeming almost 

 like a thicket, I get down on hands and knees in a black- 

 berry tangle, to explore its mysteries; and at once espy a 

 bird's nest, built in the declined stems, and sheltered by the 

 thickly-matted tops. At the first glimpse of it, the sitting 

 bird drops down out of sight and skulks off; and as there is 

 so often no certainty in identifying a nest without the bird, 

 I lie down in this miniature arbor, and await her return. 

 Very soon I have a number of calls. A fine male of the 



