130 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



of this bird, which he represents by the syllables 

 ' tsh- tsh- tsh- tshea sung crescendo. 



The Prairie Warbler has been supposed by 

 Cassin to breed in New Jersey, near Philadelphia, 

 frpm the fact that young birds have been met 

 with during the breeding-season. Nuttall de- 

 scribes the nest as non-pensile, placed in a bifur- 

 cating branch, and composed externally of strips 

 of red cedar, liber, caterpillars' silk, fibres of 

 Asclepias, with an internal lining of the down of 

 Gnaphalium plantagineum. The eggs are de- 

 scribed as being sharp at one end, and marked 

 with spots of light-brown and lilac-purple upon 

 a white background, which are chiefly annulated 

 about the larger end. 



.Several nests have been found in Lynn, by Mr. 

 Welch. One built on a wild rose, a few feet 

 from the ground, was compactly, elaborately, and 

 variously interwoven, principally of soft, inner 

 bark of shrubs, with an intermingling of decayed 

 plant-stems, woody fibres, dry rose-leaves, frag- 

 ments of vegetables, and spiders' webs, &c.; the 

 whole being bound together and strengthened by 

 cotton-like vegetable fibres. The upper rim was 

 composed of vegetable roots and bark, strongly 

 interlacing each other. Internally, their was a 

 layer of vegetable fibres, with a few horse-hairs. 

 In some nests, decayed leaves ; in others, weather- 

 beaten cocoons; and, in others, the pappus of 

 plants are more noticeable materials than strips 

 of bark. 



