INDIGO BUNTING 85 



well as nest construction, is left entirely to the female (Allen, 1939). 

 Knight (1908) gives the measurements of a nest as: outside depth, 

 2Y2 inches; inside depth, 2 inches; outside diameter, 3% inches; 

 inside diameter, 2^ inches. A. O. Gross (1947) mentions a nest in 

 August at Brunswick, Maine, "held together in part by a few spider 

 webs." He says, "The outside measurements of the nest were 3% X 4)^ 

 inches and the depth 4^ inches. The nesting cavity was 1% X 2 

 inches and a depth of 2 inches." The three young were seen in the 

 nest on Aug. 29, 1947, and out of it the next day. 



Basically, the nest is a well-woven cup containing a variety of 

 materials — dried grasses, pieces of dead leaves, strips of bark, Spanish 

 moss, and weed stems. Lewis Mclver Terrill wrote Taber that 

 nests in the southern part of the Province of Quebec are bulky and 

 loosely made, and their chief feature is the "invariable use of quantities 

 of skeletonized leaves." BaUey (1954) reports finding facial tissue 

 and cigarette papers in a nest in Colorado. Lining materials include 

 cotton, feathers, fine grasses, wool, rootlets, and long hairs from 

 animals such as Angus cattle and horses. J. Suthard (1927) reports 

 having collected "during various seasons and in different localities 

 several nests of this species composed partially of snake skin. None 

 of these were lined with snake skin, but all had it combined in the 

 lower portion of the nest, or woven in the sides and brim. One nest 

 collected July 23, 1923, has the entire lower portion composed of 

 snake skin. There are long strips of skins streaming from the bottom 

 of the nest." 



Mr. Bent's notes mention watching a female stripping cedar bark 

 from cedar poles. He later found the nest. He also comments on the 

 vociferous solicitude of the parents as being of assistance in locating 

 nests, even before the young are hatched. Hazel L. Bradley's (1948) 

 life history study mentions birch bark as nest-building material, 



Trautman (1940) states: 



The nests were made chiefly of small rootlets, grasses, inner bark of vines and 

 herbaceous plants, and bits of leaves and were lined with finer grasses, hair, or 

 feathers. The nests were placed in shrubs, bushes, or small sapUngs and were 

 1 to 11 feet above the ground. Females were seen carrying nesting material 

 as early as May 20, and by May 30 nest building was well under way. The 

 earliest nest with eggs was found May 27 (1928, 3 eggs), the latest August 4 

 (1932, 3 eggs); the earliest nest with young was seen June 12 (1932, 4 young), 

 the latest September 5 (1929, 4 young); the first fledgling out of the nest was 

 noted June 21 (1925, 1 young), and the last September 12 (1929, 2 j'oung). Most 

 of the nests with eggs were found from June 16 to July 20, the majority of nests 

 with young from July 10 to August 10, and most of the fledglings out of the nest 

 from July 15 to August 20." 



Doris Huestis Speu's wrote Taber about a nest she found in Ohio 

 June 28, 1951, about 17 inches from the ground in a small hackberry 



