OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 31 



creases in compactness towards the centre, where the 

 materials are firmly and closely intermingled, producing a 

 beautiful and symmetrical structure. External! y, the fabric N 

 composed of herbaceous stems chiefly of Triticiim vulgar i\ 

 Chenopodiitm albiu)^ leaves of deciduous trees, and a 

 profusion of white fibrous bark of a satiny lustre, plucked 

 from Li mini and other plants, which serves to bind the 

 denser materials together. Interiorly, there may be 

 said to be an inner structure composed of fine culms of Pan- 

 icum and Poa* most intricately and durably interwoven. 

 The cavity is beautifully symmetrical, and measures three 

 Inches in diameter every way, and nearly two and one half 

 inches in depth. The ground- work of the nest measures 

 five inches in diameter, which contracts to four and one half 

 inches at the mouth. The height is about four inches. 



Another nest which was found in Germantown, at no 

 great distance from the one last described, varies from it 

 slightly in structure, but rather largely in materials of com- 

 position. This nest is composed, externally, of the compress- 

 ed culms of Secalc ccreale in abundance, with large 

 fragments of newspaper, which constitute a noticeable feat- 

 ure, a few r herbaceous stems, all closely compacted and 

 variously intermingled. Within, is to be found a finely 

 built fabric, neatly and substantially conjoined with the outer 

 structure, and composed of the darkened stems and leaves of 

 various grasses, besides a modicum of fine rootlets. The 

 cavity is less uniform than that of the preceding nest, and 

 is conspicuously shallow. It measures three inches in di- 

 ameter, and not more than two inches in depth in the deep- 

 est part. The basal diameter of the complete nest, measures 

 five inches, which is nearly the dimension at the mouth. 

 The vertical thickness is three and one half inches. 



A conspicuous feature of a few nests which we have met 

 with, in situations remote from human habitations, is a pre- 

 dominance of divers weeds, with their exploded seed-vessel- 

 still adherent, on the exterior, and a large moiety of leathers 



