Nest and Eyys of Swainson's Warbler. 7 



liquely upwards and outwards, forming a bristling fringe, an 

 arrangement wliich may have been accidental, or perhaps 

 was intended to give the exterior a natural and inconspi- 

 cuous appearance. If the latter, the design was most happily 

 conceived, for from the outside the whole affair looks like a 

 bunch of old leaves. Something very like it might be made 

 by taking the nest of our Oven-bird {Siuriis auricapillus) , 

 tearing off the domed top, and pressing one side down among 

 a cluster of elastic sprouts. In a word, it is a ground-nest 

 placed in a bush, or rather a hybrid between the ground and 

 bush types of bird architecture, loosely, yet on the whole 

 substantially constructed, planned with rare cunning, and 

 admirably calculated to escape detection from prying eyes. 



The interior cavity measures 1*75* in diameter by 1*50 in 

 depth j the entire nest externally 4*00 across the top, 4*50 in 

 horizontal diameter at the middle, and about 4*00 in total 

 depth. 



The other nest is described to me by Mr. Wayne as '^ a 

 rude structure, in fact a mere bunch of leaves, chiefly of the 

 sweet gum and cane, lined almost entirely with ' pine-straw,' 

 some rootlets, and a few strands of horsehair. Although 

 rough outwardly, I must say that it is beautifully finished 

 inside." 



The eggs measure respectively 75 x -59 and "74 x -59. The 

 one giving the former dimensions is almost perfectly ellip- 

 tical, the opposite ends being essentially uniform in size 

 and outline. The other is more oval, but its smaller end is 

 still decidedly blunt and rounded. In colour both are dull 

 dead white with a bluish tinge, so faint that it is appreciable 

 only in certain lights, or when the specimen is placed on 

 white cotton or by the side of a perfectly white egg, as that 

 of a Swallow or a Woodpecker. The shell is smooth to the 

 touch, l)ut under a glass shows rather numerous pits or pores ; 

 it has a moderate polish, more than that of a Swallow^s egg, 

 less than that of most Woodpeckers. At first sight both 

 eggs appear immaculate, and one is really absolutel}' no. The 



* The measurements given in this article are all in inches and their 

 hundredths. 



