122 ^'ESTS AXD EGGS OF BlIiDb'. 



trees were numerous and standing near together, and a large patch at that; so 

 I came to the conclusion that if I wanted the nest I must examine each tree 

 separately. Accordingly I waited till the 13th, and then commenced in good 

 earnest on my first tree. In about an hour's time, to my great joy, I found the 

 nest, containing three eggs, and also one of the cow bunting. I am inclined 

 to think that they generally lay their eggs earlier in the season, as I had, a few 

 days previous to this, found a brood of young ones following their parents 

 (with young cow buntings in their wake), clamoring for food. 



I also found in the immediate neighborhood another nest, but it was aban- 

 doned; I think it belonged to the same pair of which I found the eggs. This 

 would account for finding them so late with fresh eggs. On the 14th of the 

 same month I found two more nests vacant, and by examining them found 

 that young ones had been hatched, and had already left the nest. The four 

 nests that I have found were similar in construction, and were built in forks 

 of perpendicular limbs of the Jiudpcrus virginiana, from ten to eighteen 

 feet from the ground. 



William Brewster examined and reported to the Nuttall Club 

 upon two of these nests, to the following effect : 



They are so nearly identical in every respect that one description will 

 answer for both, and accordingly I will take for my type a fine specimen 

 which, with an adult male bird, Mr. Warner has generously contributed to my 

 collection. The original position of this nest is well shown, as it is preserved 

 with a section of the limb upon which it was found. It is placed in a nearly 

 upright fork of a red cedar, between two stout branches, to which it is firmly 

 attached. Although a large, deep structure, it by no means belongs to either 

 the bulky or loosely woven class of bird-domiciles, but is, on the contrary, 

 very closely and compactly felted. In general character and appearance it 

 closely resembles the average nest of the black-throated green warbler (Den- 

 droaca virens). It is, however, of nearly double the size, in fact larger than 

 any wood-warbler's nest (excepting perhaps that of D. coronata) \\ ilh which 

 lam acquainted. It measures as follows : external diameter, 3.50; e.xternal 

 depth, 3.45; internal diameter, 1.60; internal depth, 2.00. The exterior is 

 mainly composed of strips of cedar bark, with a slight admixture of fine grass- 

 stems, rootlets, and hemp-like fibres, the whole being kept in place by an 

 occasional wrapping of spider-webs. The interior is beautifully lined with the 

 hair of different quadrupeds and numerous feathers; among the latter, several 

 conspicuous scarlet ones from the cardinal grosbeak. The outer surface of 

 the whole presents a grayish, inconspicuous appearance, and from the nature 

 of the component materials is well calculated to escape observation. Indeed, 

 it must depend for concealment upon this protective coloring, as it is in no 



