16 QUARTERLY BULLETIN. 



those of the above species, we are at once reminded of the Vi- 

 reos, though no one familiar with the elegant basket-like struc- 

 ture of these weavers would think of mistaking this for one of 

 their masterpieces. The resemblance is but a superficial one, 

 beginning and ending with the manner the nest is disposed in 

 a horizontal fork. 



It is a slight structure made of fine grasses, interspersed 

 more or less with the blossoms of trees, the whole disposed in a 

 circular form, and fitted between two twigs; a firm support is 

 derived from a binding of spiders' webs, which are inter- 

 woven with the sides of the nest, and then carried over the 

 twigs on either side, encircling them with strong bands. The 

 entire base of the nest is without support, and so thin is the 

 slight structure that the eggs might almost be seen from be- 

 low. This nest was built in a small tree, perhaps twenty 

 feet from the ground. In this respect the two species vary but 

 little, both preferring to select the lower branches of tree or 

 shrub as the site of their domicile, and only rarely departing 

 from the rule. This last nest was taken near Washington, by 

 Mr. P. L. Jouy, who kindly placed it at my disposal. The con- 

 trast between these two structures could indeed scarcely be 

 greater, and those selected for description may, I think, be taken 

 as fair samples of the styles of nest architecture that obtain 

 with the two species, at least all of a considerable number I 

 have seen, from several localities, correspond with the forego- 

 ing. 



A word as to the eggs. After examination of several sets of 

 either species, of which the identity was unquestionable, I am 

 certain that no decided differences of coloration exist between 

 them ; none at least that are constant and that can be made of 

 use in the exact discrimination of the two. Dr. T. M. Brewer, in 

 speaking of the eggs of E. traillii, describes them as possessing a 

 " white ground color with a distinct roseate tinge," and marked 

 with large and well defined blotches of purplish brown, while in 

 his description of acadicus, he says in distinction,' the eggs resem- 

 ble more those of the Contopi, and are "of a rich cream color 

 with reddish-brown shading, marked at larger end with scattered 

 and vivid blotches of red and reddish-brown." The truth is, 

 however, that the shade of the ground color of either species is 

 extremely variable, not being alike in any two sets I have 

 examined. The eggs of Traill's Flycatcher are frequently 



