THE PINE WAIiBLER. 145 



(almost always young evergreens) , and thus are well concealed. 

 One found by Nuttall in Cambridge was thin but very neat ; the 

 principal material was the wiry old stems of the slender knot-weed, 

 circularly interlaced, and connected externally with rough, linty 

 fibres of some species of Asclepias, and blended with caterpillars' 

 webs. The lining, he says, was made of a few hogs' bristles, slen- 

 der root-fibres, a mat of the down of fern-stalks, and one or two 

 feathers of the robin's breast ; a curious medley, but all answering 

 the purpose of warmth and shelter for the expected brood. Sev- 

 eral other nests were of the same sort. 



On the other hand Mr. Welch, of Lynn, Mass., describes many 

 nests as alike in being loosely made of fine strips of the bark of 

 the red cedar (chiefly underneath) , fine inner bark of other trees, 

 hempen and cotton threads, the exuviae of insects, and dry stalks of 

 grasses : the lining of these nests, which were deep, consisted of 

 fur, silky down and feathers. Other nests from Woburn, Mass., 

 show fine, crinkled, black rootlets as the chief means of frame- 

 work. The structure usually bears a close resemblance to a red- 

 start's home, and is about three inches across the brim. 



The eggs of the pine warbler are four in number, as a rule, and 

 two or three clutches of them are hatched each year in the south- 

 ern states, but only one in New England. They are about . 70 by .5 2 

 of an inch in average measurement, and the ground color is dull 

 white. "Scattered over this are subdued tintings of a fine, delicate 

 shade of purple, and upon this are distributed dots and blotches 

 of a dark purplish brown, mingled with a few lines almost black." 

 Sometimes there is a distinct wreath about the large end, or the 

 whole butt is capped. Dr. Brewer points out a supposed likeness 

 to eggs of Dendrceca castanea ; but I should say £>. discolor or D. 

 stria/a furnished a better type, though the latter's eggs are con- 

 siderably larger. 



Though Nuttall removed two eggs from one of the nests he 



found, the mother-bird, after feeble complaint, resumed her sitting 



upon the remainder. "In summer," the same diligent author tells 



us, "their food is the eggs and larvae of various insects, as well as 



10 



