Sept. 1888.] 



AJH) OOLOGIST. 



141 



Nest Building. 



BY HON. JOHN N. Cl.ARK, SAVHUOOK, CONN. 



I have obseiVfil tliat in the case of most birds 

 the nest is fasliioneil after a stereotypeil i>at- 

 teru. The Kobiii builds her imid walls Just 

 about so thick and so high, so deep and so 

 wide, and just about so much of that soft brown 

 grass is platted together as lining. 



The little Summer Warbler will j;:itl](i- the 

 soft yellow down from the fern stems of the 

 marsli for tlie walls of her delicate cradle, and 

 what singular dark brown rootlets the Catbird 

 always secures to line her nest. There are 

 none such around my place that I have ever 

 seen, and yet an old < iilbird that builds in my 

 shrubbery every year .ihvays secures th(^ de- 

 sired (|uantity and smoothly tits each little root- 

 let in its place, and she does"nt take from the 

 old nest to line the new either, for I noticed to- 

 day on the low brancli of a spruie, where slie 

 reared her brood a year ago, and tliose little 

 tibrous roots ai)i)ear Just as fresh as before they 

 formed the craiUe beil of a whole family. 



The ISrovvn Tlirashcr, the AVofxl Thiiish, and 

 the lihie .lay all draw from the same unknown 

 source the lining for their uests, certainly not 

 for its softness, thougli sucli a bed might be 

 comfortable and airy in a hot day. yet I believe 

 they always use the .same material regardless of 

 season or weather. 



This study of nests seems to me ;i wvy inter- 

 esting one, and its relation to oology is (evident- 

 ly lield in high regard bj' most collectors, as all 

 the patterns of blanks on which to record the 

 data, so called, of sets collected, contain a 

 place devoted to the description of the nest and 

 its situation, evidently looking to the nest as a 

 substantial source of identity ; and further, the 

 nest received that failed to till the description 

 of the expert would at once cast a shadow u|)on 

 the identity of the eggs found therein. How 

 w'e should smile to see a Swallow building a, 

 nest like a Warbler, or an Oriole like a J.'obin, 

 and yet there would be no apparent violation 

 of the litness of things therein if their old p:il- 

 tcrn had been unknown. 



I always like to read the description of bird's 

 nests, the materials, where obtained, how i)nt 

 together, the site and the shape, and wish we 

 might have more of them. In ditl'erent sections 

 of the country the same species, I learn, lio 

 vary the jiattcrn, using diverse materials and 

 putting them together in a dilVerent manner 

 with <litlcrent site, all of which is perhaps not 

 remarkable but very interesting. 



I was very much interested in a curious nest 

 of the Hooded Warbler, whicli 1 secured last 

 June. Curious in that it so decidedly dilVered 

 from tlie ordinary fashion of tlie series. Vicing 

 suspended between the forked brancli of a 

 small bush after the manner of the Vireos, 

 which it so nearly resembled that onie could 

 scarcely believe that it could belong to any 

 other than the Ked-eyed Vireo, with -perhaps a 

 few more leaves among tlie materials of its 

 composition than tliat species usually afiect. 

 And yet I found the old J/rtjvf^x.s sitting [iroudly 

 on her four eggs of ordinary pattern, and rock- 

 ing in her pendant craiUe as gaily as if her in- 

 fancy had been passed in a Vireo's nest and site 

 had nev('r known any otlier pattern in the fam- 

 ily. I carefully preserved the nest with its 

 attachments, and it is now in llic rdllei-tiori of 

 Mr. S. ]{. Ladd, who values it very highly. 



On the Food of the Woodpeckers. 



nV C. S. BKIiMLEY, liALEK;]!, N. C. 



Some years ago I happened to i-ome upon I he 

 statement that these birds were " pre-eminently 

 insectivorous," and as I had found them feed- 

 ing a good deal on berries and seeds I conclud- 

 ed to note the contents of their stomachs when- 

 ever I had time. 



I now give the result of my investigations, 

 and it will be seen that of one hundred birds, 

 seventy-five had indulged in berries and seeds 

 and only twenty-seven in insects, and this ap- 

 pears still more marked if we exclude the two 

 species of Di-i/ohates which seem to have a liking 

 for insects. Not counting tiie twenty-four 

 stomachs of these two species we have seventy- 

 six Woodpeckers, only eleven of which showed 

 any taste for insects at all. 



Tiie absence of insects is accounted for, to 

 some extent, by most of the birds luiving been 

 taken in the fall and winter, but the two siiecies 

 of Drijiibittcs seemed abb- to lind insects then, 

 and so wli)' not the others V 



1 now give my results in detail U<v eai-h 

 species : 



Southern Hairy Woodpecker -^ oiglit exiiuiined, 

 six contained insects, three seeds and one 

 was empty. 



Doiriuj Woddprckrr; sixteen examined, ten 

 contained insects, and nine seeds. 



Pileated \Voodpeeker\ three examined, two 

 contained seeds, one insects. 



Yclloir-liellied Woodfierker^ thirty examined, 

 twenty-two contained seeds or berries, live in- 



