THE OSPREY. 



113 



here we are intruding upon their private affairs. If 

 the cavity be deep, it is filled up to within a few inches 

 of the entrance before the nest proper is begun. The 

 materials used for this purpose are various, probably 

 those most convenient or accessible. In one case, I 

 took from under the nest proper a quart or more of 

 moss which had been utilized in filling a cavity nearly 

 a foot deep. The foundation of a typical nest is com- 

 posed largely of green moss, intermixed with pieces 

 of dead leaves and rubbish. A few nests that I found 

 had a foundation made entirely of large burrs and a 

 little moss. A female was once timed to ascertain 

 the speed she made in gathering material from a moss- 

 covered tree trunk some seventy-five or a hundred 

 feet distant from the cavity in which she was building. 

 She was very active, and evidently desired to get the 

 cavity filled as quickly as possible. No time was 

 wasted in idle loafing or wandering, for she went from 

 tree trunk to stump, carrying huge bunches of green 

 moss, depositing them in the cavity, and returning 

 within a minute. Frequently she made it in less 

 time. On every trip, she would alight on a small 

 limb of an adjacent tree before entering the hole, 

 and utter a tckip now and then, even though her bill 

 was full of moss. Almost immediately after her en- 

 trance, she would reappear, apparently only dump- 

 ing the moss on the bottom, as she seldom remained 

 long enough to arrange it. Very unsuspicious of us, 

 she worked steadily for the half hour we remained. 

 Where her husband was, I am unable to say, for we 

 saw nothing of him during our sojourn. 



The materials in the nest proper are various. Bark 

 strips, fibrous roots, pieces of dried grass, small weed 

 ■ stems, bits of decayed wood, a few wisps of straw, in 

 fact 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 resting place. The 

 shape and size correspond to that of the interior of 

 the cavity. Some nests, taken from particularly 

 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 



MISSIONARY WORK 



WILLI.AM T 



THE appeal, which was kindly published in the 

 November Osprey, for gifts of bird skins for 

 Public School No. i in New York City, was 

 made with no little confidence as to tangible results ; 

 but it must be confessed that its author greatly under- 

 estimated the generosity of those to whom it was ad- 

 dressed. Instantly upon its appearance, letters came 

 pouring in, bearing expressions of heartfelt interest 



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 the 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 be- 

 tween its completion 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 peculiar either in their position or construc- 

 tion, 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 unusual, it is not to be 

 wondered at, for this species is as apt to deviate from 

 its natural mode of nest-building as are 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 wandering 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 men- 

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

 ('Ornithologist and Oologist,' Vol. XII, p. i6o.) 



Two curious nests, heretofore described by me, 

 ('Oologist,' Vol. X, p. 20.) are certainly worth noting 

 here. One, placed in a cavity of a dry stump, was 

 composed partly of cast-off snake skins ; and the 

 other — the finest and most beautiful specimen that I 

 have ever seen — was built in a cavity of an old water- 

 soaked stump, the entrance of which was within a 

 few inches of the water. This nest was composed 

 entirely of bright green moss, kept fresh by its damp 

 and low situation. It was slightly lined with grass, 

 and contained five beautiful eggs. A nest was found 

 several years ago about twenty-five feet above 

 the water, in a cavity of a live willow tree. 

 Another was discovered in a bowl-shaped cavity in 

 the top of a small stub, the entrance being at the 

 top. Occasionally nests are found in huge stumps 

 two or three feet in diameter, the bark of which still 

 remains, environing a mass of decayed and crumbling 

 wood. Under this shell-like covering, in pocket- 

 shaped cavities, I have found their nests. In no 

 case, however, should I have discovered the nest, 

 had not the golden colored head of the owner popped 

 out of the small round orifice in the side of the bark. 

 [To BE Continued.] 



BY ORNITHOLOGISTS. 



. HORN.^DAY. 



in the success of the little scheme, and offering sub- 

 stantial gifts. The writers were touched by the fact 

 that the lives of so many children should be so utterly 

 barren of nature's handiwork, so shut out from all 

 contact with the beautiful world of birds. 



The list of donors contains the names of 42 persons, 

 representing ig States and Territories, and one Prov- 

 ince of Canada. For fully two months boxes and 



