132 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



W. E. Clyde Todd (1940) mentions two Pennsylvania nests that 

 were more than 30 feet from the ground in willow trees, the highest I 

 have seen recorded. Brewster (1906) reports a nest in a vertical fork 

 of a small apple tree in an orchard not far from a pond. Harold M. 

 Holland (1923) found a redwing's egg and a cowbird's egg in a Bell's 

 vireo's nest; and later an egg of the redwing and two cowbird's eggs, in 

 another Bell's vireo's nest, were so much like the eggs in the other nest 

 that they appeared to have been laid by same interlopers. 



Allen (1914) describes the progress of the nesting at Ithaca: 



The first nests built are located in the dead stubs of the cat-tails that have been 

 burned over during the previous fall. At first they are not sheltered by any 

 vegetation of any kind, for the new growth is barely above the water. * * * As 

 the season advances and the vegetation grows, green stalks are included in the 

 support. At first these are not sufficiently strong to serve alone as a support, and 

 consequently the nests are always attached on one side to the dead stub. * * * 

 This is true of most of the nests constructed in early May, and it generally results 

 in disaster. So firmly are the nests fastened by the strands of milkweed fiber, that 

 the side attached to the green blades is carried upward by their growth, while the 

 other, attached to the dead stubs, remains fixed. As a result, the one side is lifted 

 at the rate of almost an inch a day until the nest is inverted. The birds continue 

 to incubate until the last egg is rolled out. * * * By the end of the third week in 

 May, most of the vegetation in the marsh is sufficiently strong to support a nest, 

 and as a result, nests built at this season are located rather indiscriminately in cat- 

 tail, sedge, burreed, water horsetail, dock, or arrow arum. By the first of June the 

 cat-tails and sedges are matured, and have become very dense and harsh. The 

 Redwings now desert them for the softer vegetation, such as the dock and smart- 

 weed, which by this time fill most of the small ponds. 



The time required for building a complete nest is usually 6 days. Of this time, 



3 days are spent on the outer basket and "felting," and 3 days on the lining. 

 Many of the later, more poorly built nests require much less time for construction, 

 some of them being completed in as few as 3 days. * * * The construction 

 of the nest, in all cases observed at Ithaca, has been entirely by the female. The 

 male has never been seen with nesting material in his bill. He is very attentive, 

 however, during the process. 



* * * The adult birds commence building again, often before the first young 

 have left the nest. The second nest is located in the immediate vicinity of the 

 first, frequently within a distance of 10 feet. This is true also when the first nest 

 has been robbed or destroyed. One pair, which was experimented upon, built 



4 nests within a radius of 25 feet between April 25 and May 18. 



Nuttall (1832) gives us the most complete description of the nest of 

 the redwing as follows : 



Outwardly it is composed of a considerable quantity of the long dry leaves of 

 Sedge-grass (Carex), or other kinds collected in wet situations, and occasionally 

 the slender leaves of the flag (Iris) carried round all the adjoining twigs of the bush 

 by way of support or suspension, and sometimes blended with strips of the lint of 

 the swamp Asclepias, or silk-weed (Asclepias incarnala). The whole of this 

 exterior structure is also twisted in and out, and carried in loops from one side of 

 the nest to the other, pretty much in the manner of the Orioles, but made of less 

 flexible and handsome materials. The large interstices that remain, as well as the 



