NIDIFICATION. 



Situation of Nest. — I fail to discover any great uniformity 

 in the choice of nesting places throughout its breeding range, 

 which is not surprising, considering the well known capabili- 

 ties of the bird for adapting itself to existing conditions, and 

 which indeed is absolutely essential in a species so abundant 

 numerically and ranging over so wide and diversified a terri- 

 tory. On Avery's Island, La. , it seems to prefer trees near the 

 edge of the woods, occasionally close to water or in yards or 

 pastures. In the South Atlantic States the lowland pine for- 

 ests, usually a dead pine, now and then an oak, apple, maple, 

 chinaberry, ash, beech, willow, palmetto, or an unrecogniza- 

 ble stub. Mr. W. L. Foxhall calls to mind one dead pine, 

 perforated with 25 or 80 holes, most of which w^ere in use at 

 one time or another. In the Middle and Eastern States : 

 apple, sycamore, oak, butternut, cherry, elm, chestnut, maple, 

 poplar, beech, ash, pine, hickory, etc. In Southwestern Penn- 

 sylvania Mr. J. Warren Jacobs has found the choice to be about 

 as follows : 1st, along streams and in orchards ; 2nd. pasture 

 fields on hillsides ; ;5rd, in woods. He has also found the syc- 

 amore to be the favorite, with the apple and maple second, the 

 beech and locust third, oak and cherry fourth, and all other 

 varieties fifth. At Croton Falls, N. Y.. it appears to have no 

 marked preference, as it is found in the low wet meadows and 

 again in the highest and dryest woodland, the fruit trees in 

 orchards and the willows bordering the water appear favorites ; 

 while about Cincinnatus and Buffalo the edge of woods, 

 groves, orchards or isolated trees, always in dead wood, have 

 their claims. Mr. C. L. Rawson used to fancy that it prefer- 

 red apple trees at Norwich, Conn., but old orchards disappear 

 and no particular tree now seems to be the favorite. At 

 Fitchville a row of old elms are now the homes of half a dozen 

 Wacups. At Taunton, Ma.ss., it selects perfectly sound apple 

 trees, occasionally an ash. oak or walnut in an open field ; 



