304 LIFE HISTORIES OF NOKTU AMEIilCAN BIEDS. 



in the North the body of the nest is composed ])rincipally of decayed fibrous 

 material, dark-coh)red rootk^ts interwoven with a few bhides of grass, catkins, dry 

 bk)ssoms, and usually decorated more or less abundantly with the male aments 

 or catkins of oak or other trees. There really is no inner lining, and the bottom 

 of the nest is usually so thin that the eggs can very readily be seen tlirough it 

 from behtw. In some nests the outer decorations of catkins are omitted, and the 

 walls are composed of fine weed stems, silky })lant fibers, and fine strips of Ijark, 

 mixed with plant down, cocoons, and spider webs. This stjde of nest is appar- 

 ently considerable stronger than the former, and usually somewhat larger. A 

 rather well-built specimen, taken by Mr. Charles W. Richmond, June 14, 1885, 

 near Washington, District of Columbia, measures 2| inches in outer diameter by 

 2 inches in depth, while another, already mentioned as taken by Mr. II. P. Att- 

 water on the Medina River, Texas, measures likewise 2^ inches in outer diameter, 

 but only 1^ inches in depth; the inner cavity is only 2 inches wide and about 

 three-quarters of an inch deep. There are several otlier nests in the collection 

 e(|ually shallow. Attached as they are to slender, drooping branches, it is sur- 

 prising how the eggs are prevented from rolling out in a heavy Avind storm unless 

 the parent is on the nest. Occasionally one is found which has some of the 

 materials of which it is built hanging down from the sides, giving it a very untidy 

 appearance 



Mr. Witmer Stone showed me a very peciiliar nest of this Flycatcher which 

 he took on the lower Susipiehanna River, in York County, Pennsylvania, in June, 

 18U(). It was situated on the extremity of a low branch of a hemlock tree, 

 about G feet from the ground, and was construi-ted entirely of tlio long, gray 

 lichen, Usnea harhuta. In fact, there are three distinct types of these nests; the 

 first and most common one is more or less abimdantly decorated with the male 

 aments of different species of trees; a second, in which these exterior ornamenta- 

 tions are dispensed with, and the last, where the nest is l)uilt entirely, or in large 

 part, of different kinds of tree mosses. Occasionally the Acadian Flycatcher 

 builds a double nest — for instance, when a Cowbird has deposited an egg in one 

 just completed, before the owner has laid in it. Mr. W. E. Loucks, of Peoria, 

 Illinois, sends me such a record. The nest foimd by him contained a Cowbiixl's 

 egg in the lower story and three fresh eggs in the upper one. The Acadian Fly- 

 catcher is one of the species on which this parasite imposes occasionally. I 

 believe that but one brood is raised in a season. During the latter half of Sep- 

 tember the return migration to then- winter homes conunences. 



The number of eggs to a set varies from two to four, while sets of three are 

 most often found; but sets of four in certain sections of its range, in Pennsylvania 

 for instance, are said to lie not especially rare; au egg is deposited daily. In 

 ishape they range from ovate to an elliptical ovate; the shell is close grained, and 

 occ'asionally slightly lustrous. The ground color varies fx'om pale cream to butf 

 color, and the markings consist of moderate-sized spots, and again of mere specks, 

 ranging from liver brown and ferruginous to a light rufous tint. None of the 

 eggs are heavily spotted, and most of these markings are generally concentrated 

 about the larger end of the egg. Occasionally one is almost entirely imspotted. 



