OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 77 



character we are inclined to think that the sexes 

 arrive at the same time. 



Shortly after their arrival, they set to work to 

 discover a suitable situation for the purposes of 

 nidification. In this work they display little judg- 

 ment and taste. Almost any object with a suitable 

 aperture and a moderate capacity of interior, and 

 well adapted to secure the requisites of shelter 

 and comfort, is taken possession of and made to 

 subserve its purposes. 



Before us is a nest of the Baltimore Oriole 

 which is composed of strings beautifully and 

 artistically interwoven. Within, this structure is 

 occupied -by the nest of the species under con- 

 sideration. The coarse sticks of the latter which 

 are nearly one-eighth of an inch in thickness, 

 project in every direction through the meshes of 

 the former. At the entrance, these sticks are 

 piled up in an unsymmetrically conical heap, with 

 a circular opening just large enough to admit the 

 passage of a Wren. It seems to us that so cozy 

 a nest as the Oriole's, which the most competent 

 connoisseur of birds' nests would certainly pro- 

 nounce the perfection of art, would scarcely be 

 refused by a species whose artistic skill is so 

 decidedly inferior. But such is often the case as 

 the present instance amply attests. Howsoever 

 homely and uncouth the structure, the House 

 Wren prefers its own workmanship to that of a 

 stranger's. 



The Common Pewee delights to build its nest 



