256 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



of these nests, desertion occurred after removal of one host egg. Nest 

 building was done by the female." 



In 1926 ]Mrs. Nice (1929) followed the fortunes of a pair of Bell's 

 vireos for two months on the campus of the University of Oklahoma ; 

 they built three nests, all of which were destroyed by a cat, in one 

 case after the young had hatched and in the other two cases while 

 there were eggs in the nests. The first nest was in a honeysuckle bush, 

 15 inches from the ground; it "was largely made of birch bark (from 

 an introduced tree near-by) ; spider webs, cocoons and bark fibres were 

 on the outside, while fine pieces of peppergrass stems and horse hair 

 served as lining." This nest was destroyed on June 3 or 4, and by the 

 14th the birds had built a new nest and laid four eggs; this second 

 nest was 75 yards away, three feet from the ground, in a hydrangea 

 bush in a row of bushes. On June 25, this nest had been torn out. 

 The next day she "discovered that the foolish little birds had returned 

 to their first bush and had started a nest three feet from the ground." 

 On July 2, the first egg had been laid, but a similar disaster befell 

 this third attempt three days later. 



In Texas, Mr. Simmons (1925) records nests as placed from "1.12 

 to 10, once 25, average 3, feet from ground." He says that the nest is 

 "nearly always in a low mesquite tree; occasionally in cedar elm, 

 winged elm, Texas black-fruited persimmon, Mississippi hackberry; 

 black willow, prickly ash ; honey locust, or bois d'arc bush." He adds 

 the following to the usual materials employed: "Bits of wool; rarely, 

 tiny bits of twigs, rootlets, Indian tobacco weed, feathers, cast-off 

 snake-skin, string, lichens, moss, bits of cotton, rags, and pieces of 

 wasp nest. * * * Occasionally nests have false bottoms built over 

 eggs of the Dwarf Cowbird, the birds preferring a second story to 

 building a new home." 



In addition to the above-mentioned situations, nests have been re- 

 corded in Cottonwood, dogwood, and apple trees, in lilac, osage- 

 orange and hazel bushes ; and doubtless other kinds of trees and bushes 

 are used as nesting sites; most of the nests have been less than 5 

 feet above ground, much less on the average. 



Two very unusual nests are worth mentioning. George W. Morse, 

 of Tulsa, Okla. (1927), reports a double nest, the second having been 

 built two-thirds of the way around the first and containing two eggs 

 while the young were still in the first nest and nearly ready to fly; 

 the second nest later contained four eggs, when he collected it. Baird, 

 Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) report a nest, taken by B. F. Goss, near 

 Neosho Falls, Kans., which, "unlike others of this family, is lined with 

 down, and the fine long hair of some animals, instead of with vegetable 

 stems." With the exception of a similar statement by Forbush 

 (1929), probably based on the same authority, I can find no mention 



