88 SINGING BIRDS. 



ever, in general, is the principal worker. I have observed a 

 nest made almost wholly of tow, which was laid out for the 

 convenience of a male bird, who with this aid completed his 

 labor in a very short time, and frequently sang in a very ludi- 

 crous manner while his mouth was loaded with a mass larger 

 than his head. So eager are these birds to obtain fibrous ma- 

 terials that they will readily tug at and even untie hard knots 

 made of tow. In Audubon's magnificent plates a nest is rep- 

 resented as formed outwardly of the long-moss ; where this 

 abounds, of course, the labor of obtaining materials must be 

 greatly abridged. The author likewise remarks that the whole 

 fabric consists almost entirely of this material, loosely inter- 

 woven, without any warm lining, — a labor which our ingenious 

 artist seems aware would be superfluous in the warm forests of 

 the lower Mississippi. A female, which I observed attentively, 

 carried off to her nest a piece of lamp-wick ten or twelve feet 

 long. This long string, and many other shorter ones, were left 

 hanging out for about a week before both the ends were wat- 

 tled into the sides of the nest. Some other little birds, making 

 use of similar materials, at times twitched these flowing ends, 

 and generally brought out the busy Baltimore from her occupa- 

 tion in great anger. 



The haste and eagerness of one of these airy architects, 

 which I accidentally observed on the banks of the Susque- 

 hanna, appeared likely to prove fatal to a busy female who, 

 in weaving, got a loop round her neck ; and no sooner was she 

 disengaged from this snare than it was slipped round her feet, 

 and thus held her fast beyond the power of escape 1 The male 

 came frequently to the scene, now changed from that of joy 

 and hope into despair, but seemed wholly incapable of com- 

 prehending or relieving the distress of his mate. In a second 

 instance I have been told that a female has been observed 

 dead in the like predicament. 



The eggs of this species are usually four or five, white, with 

 a faint, indistinct tint of bluish, and marked, chiefly at the 

 greater end, though sometimes scatteringly, with straggling, 

 serpentine, dark-brown fines and spots, and fainter hair streaks. 



