SVLVU'ULID.K — TIIK WAKIJLKIIS. 9or, 



J)r. ( oojKT fouinl this WarMer vi*rv altinulant in Wasliin«;t(»ii TiTvitorv, 

 and notiti'il tlnMr arrival in large nunilters al tlie Straits oi b'uca as uarly 

 as April S. 



The Sunnncr Yellow- I'ird arrives in Xew Knjjjland with u^reat iinitorniity 

 from the first to the niitldle ot May. Its ooniinLj is usually the harl»iui,^'r ot" 

 the opeiiin;^ summer au«l expanding; leaves, lidike most ol" its family, it is 

 eontidini,' and familiar, easily encouraued, hy attention to its wants, to eultivate 

 the society of man. It jontitlini,dy huilds its nest in gardens, oltiMi in elo.se 

 vicinity to dwellinjjjs, and in the midst of lart^'e villaues and citit's, amonj^ the 

 shruhhery of fre(|uented ]>arks. This \Varl>ler, soon after its arrival, l»ei;ins 

 the construction of its nest. It is usually placed in low bushes, three or four 

 feet from the ground. Occasionally verv ilitferent ijositions are cho.sen. 

 Hedj^es of hucktluun and hawthorn, l>arherry-l>ushes, and other low shruhs, 

 are their favorite places of resort. On one occasion the nest was ]»laced 

 some forty feet from the ground, in the top of a horse-chestnut tree over- 

 hanging the main street of a village. Such high positions are, however, 

 not verv conuiion. 



The nest is invariably fastened to several twigs with givat tirniness, and 

 with a remarkable neatness and skill. A great variety of materials is em- 

 ]>loyed in the constructi<»n (»f their nests, though not often in the same nest, 

 which is usually ([uitt; homogeneous. The more common materials are the 

 hempen fibres of ]>lants, filirous strips of bark, slender stems of plants and 

 leaves, and down «»f ascle]tias. Interwoven with these, forming the inner 

 materials, are the down from willow catkins, the woolly furze from fern-stalks 

 anil the Eriophonun vin/inin'/n, antl similar substances. These are lined with 

 soft, fine gras.ses, hair, feathers, and other warm material.>. Cotton, where 

 procurable, is a favorite material ; as also is wool, where abundant. 1 have 

 known instances where nests were Imilt almost exclusively of one or the 

 other material. A ]»air of the.se birds, in 1S:>(», built their nest under a par- 

 lor window in IJoxburv, where all their operations could be clt»sely watched. 

 When discovered, only the framework, the fastening to the sui>])orting twigs, 

 had been erected. The work of completion was sim])le and rapid. The 

 female was the chief buihler, taking her ]>osiiion in the centre of the nest 

 and arranging the materials in their ])laces as her mate b? ^ught them to her. 

 Occasionally, with outstretched wings and ex])anded tai she would whirl 

 herself round, giving to the soft and yielding materials their hemispherical 

 form. At intervals she arrested her revolutions to stop and reguLite with 

 her bill some unyielding portiiui. When her mate was dilatory, she made 

 brief excursions and collected material for herself, and when the materials 

 bn^ui^ht her were deemed unsuitable, they were rejected in a most sunnnarv 

 and amusing manner. The imjMUtant part of the tail-feathers in shaping the 

 nest and jdacing the materials in position was a striking feature in this in- 

 teresting performance. The greater portion of the nest wa.s thus constructeil 



in a single day. 



29 



