206 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



seven nests were all at a greater elevation than any 

 found in smilax or other thorn-bearing growths, one be- 

 ing thirteen feet from the ground. 



All these nests were distinctly globular in shape. The 

 original structures were not merely covered at the top, but 

 distinctly arched over, so as to give a greater capacity to 

 the nests than when occupied by their original builders. 



Careful examination convinced me that twenty-nine 

 were the preceding summer's nests of cat-birds, wood- 

 thrushes, and robins; those of the latter not being so 

 popular, apparently, on account of their partial or com- 

 plete mud-lining. I think this, because I found several 

 of these nests that were not utilized, even when so strong 

 an incentive was brought to play as the removal of the 

 nearest available nests of other birds, which they had 

 chosen, and from which they were forced to retreat. 



The foundation and lower halves of the sides of these 

 twenty-nine nests were unaltered; and many appeared 

 as if a smaller nest had been bodily removed, inverted, 

 and so used as a roof to the lower structure. Eight 

 others were quite unlike birds'-nests in their construction. 

 The interlacing of the twigs was not like the ordinary 

 work of birds, and the diameter of each one of this se- 

 ries was nearly one-third smaller than that of an ordi- 

 nary cat-bird's nest. Three of them I picked to pieces, 

 and the lining was small feathers and the silk of the 

 milk-weed, materials not used by any one of the thrushes 

 I have named ; and, indeed, the silk of the milk-weed 

 would not be available until nesting was over, unless a 

 little of the preceding year's could be gathered, which is 

 not probable. 



