616 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



"Nest construction conforms to a very definite pattern. First there 

 is a wad of loose dead leaves or long plant fibers like the strips of 

 inner bark of dead chestnut or the inner bark of small sugar maples 

 stripped off by squirrels, though beech leaves and the skeletonized 

 leaves of sugar maples most frequently enter into this foundation. 

 This wad of loose material may be long if there is a long narrow 

 crotch to be filled up, or relatively flat if the location includes some 

 sort of platform or cradle as a nest support. Usually the location is 

 in a fork, and often includes a dead branch which has fallen across 

 the fork, thus providing additional support. In a depression in the 

 center of this loose collection of leaves a thin but strong basket is 

 woven, the materials most frequently used being the strong, flat strips 

 of bark of the wild grape. Other materials may sometimes be used, 

 but they all have the common characteristics of flatness and strength. 

 There is always a well-formed rim, carefully worked, of long plant 

 fibers bound about the upper part of the structure, and well fastened in 

 most cases with insect or spider silk, to which, sometimes, masses of the 

 scales of beech buds or dried catkins of oak or hickory, or the dried 

 staminate blossoms of the beech, adhere. The lining is always of 

 springy, rather hard, finely shredded plant material, quite often hair- 

 like in character. Probably much of this is finely shredded inner bark 

 of grape vine. Many of the attachments of the nest to its supports 

 will be of spider webbing or at least be reinforced by spider silk. 

 Often long streamers will be left hanging from the bottom of the nest 

 or from the rim. Second or third nests are apt to be much more 

 hurriedly constructed than the first ones of the season, and lack the 

 care and attention to details bestowed upon the earlier ones. Of 84 

 nests studied, measurements averaged as follows : height ( from bottom 

 to rim) 75 mm. ; outside width, 79 mm. ; inside width, 36.5 mm. ; depth 

 (inside), 52.5 mm." 



Eggs. — Three or four eggs, often only three, make up the set for 

 the hooded warbler, very rarely as many as five. These are usually 

 ovate, sometimes tending toward short ovate or elongate ovate, and 

 they are only slightly glossy. The creamy white ground is blotched, 

 spotted or speckled with "bay," "chestnut," "auburn," "carob brown," 

 or "russet," with undermarks of "vinaceous-brown," or "brownish 

 drab." The markings on some eggs are scattered over the entire 

 surface, but generally they are more or less confined to the large end, 

 where they tend to form a wreath. Some have such pale spots that 

 they appear as freckles, or, again, they may be so dark as to appear 

 almost black. The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.6 by 13.6 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 19.1 by 

 13.8, 18.5 by 14.5, and 15.2 by 12.7 millimeters (Harris) . 



