"26 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



-almost any bit of vegetable rubbish the builder can find 

 near at hand may enter into the make-up of the nest. The 

 moss is frequently lacking; sometimes found only in small 

 quantities; and at other times in large bunches. The 

 lining is chiefly of rootlets or fine dry grass. The nest is 

 generally very compact, although sometimes so loosely 

 put together that it falls apart on removal from its rest- 

 ing place. The shape and size correspond to that of th;:j 

 interior of the cavity. Some nests, taken from particu- 

 larly deep holes, are five or six inches deep and from three 

 to four across. The interior of an average nest is well- 

 rounded and cup-shaped, from one to one and a half 

 Inches deep, and about two in diameter. A nest taken 

 from a very shallow cavity will prove a very flat affair, 

 "frequently not more than a lining. The top of the nest 

 is, in nearly every case, within three or four inches of 

 i;he entrance, and often the bird can be seen sitting on 

 her eggs. At least a full week is consumed in building 

 ^the structure, and a few days intervene between its com- 

 pletion and the deposition of the eggs. 



Within the last few years I have found and heard of 

 some very curious nests of this warbler, which were pe- 

 culiar either in their position or construction, or because 

 •of the materials used. I have read of its nesting in an out- 

 building, and also in a tin can. While this is certainly un- 

 ■usual, it is not to be wondered at, for this species is as 

 apt to deviate from its natural mode of nest-building as 

 ^re others which have been found so doing. I have never 

 noticed a prothonotary around a house, but they are 

 frequently or continually seen around the ice-breakers of 

 one of the old wagon bridges near Peoria. These may pos- 

 sibly be only wandei'ing males from an adjacent willow 

 swamp, still I should not be surprised to find a nest in 

 one of those old piles. Mr. Otho C. Poling mentions 

 finding a nest in a bridge pier near Quincy, 111.* 



Two curious nests, heretofore described by me,t are cer- 

 tainly worth noting here. One, placed in a cavity of a dry 



♦Ornithologist and Oologist. Vol. XII.. p. 160. 

 tOologist. Vol. X., p. 20. 



