THE OOLOGIST. 



39 



names and arbitrary classitication. But 

 after becoming familiar with these busy 

 creatures fair, by sight, sound, home 

 and habits, there is the added pleasure 

 of teaching others to know and appre- 

 ciate them. 



In my collection of nests are delicate 

 structures made by the Blue-gray Gnat- 

 catcher. Fairy -like homes which seem 

 scarce strong enough to withstand the 

 weather for a season, yet one which I 

 collected over twenty years ago, and 

 which weighs less than a half ounce, 

 has by care kept its form and delicate 

 external lining. This magical creation, 

 which I took from a horizontal limb of 

 an oak at an elevation of twenty-two 

 feet from the ground, is, or was, slight- 

 ly over two and a half inches in height, 

 and about the same in diameter, extern- 

 ally, while within it was nearly two in- 

 ches deep and about one and three- 

 quarters across \he hollow. In compo- 

 sition it was mainly of minute weed- 

 stalks and strippings of bark, so delicate 

 that the three hundred pieces weigh 

 less than thirty grains. These strip- 

 pings which give stability to the nest 

 are some of them over two inches in 

 length. They were all placed in the 

 form of a circle and in no instance ver- 

 tical. These strippings mixed or blend- 

 ed with a few tufts of moss, still green, 

 after all these years, small pericarps, 

 delicate spider's nests and a few very 

 small leaves; the latter mainly in the 

 formation of the base. All through the 

 structure are small bits of lichens, and 

 this material forms the bulk of the neat 

 homie as besides being incorporated in 

 the body of the nest it is the entire ex- 

 ternal lining. Over two thousand sep- 

 arate bits of lichens are used in this one 

 nest; all being held to the sides of the 

 home, or in the body of it by spider web 

 and downy material from the flowering 

 catkins. In this nest were over three 

 thousand separate pieces of materials, 

 all of which were brought piece meal 

 to the limb from surrounding trees or 



at quite a distance from the site. It is 

 no wonder that the pair of Gnat catchers 

 was occupied a full week in construct- 

 ing this nest. There are three other 

 species of birds which ornament their 

 nests habitually with bits of lichens. 

 They are the Yellow-throated Vireo, 

 Wood Pewee and the delicate Humming 

 bird, known as the Ruby-ihroat. The 

 external lining of the Vireo's nest is 

 not so neatly put on as in the case of 

 the Gnatcatcher, but the work of the 

 Hummer is beyond compare, the little 

 cup of a nest being perfection in all its 

 parts. 



Birds have their preferences in nest- 

 ing materials, and will go far from the 

 site of the nest at times to secure the 

 proper ruaterials. We may go further 

 and say that many species have special- 

 ties, and in most cases maintain their 

 peculiar demands for certain timber for 

 their homes. The Marsh Wrens and 

 Orchard Orioles weave their entire 

 structures of grass, the Wrens using 

 green grass usually and nu aching to the 

 green grass of the marsh which gives 

 the support, while the orchard musician 

 invariably uses green grass, and this 

 material gives the nest a protective col- 

 oration which is very successful. Many 

 other birds use dry grass, the list being 

 too long to present, but these are given 

 as specialists. 



Robins use mud in the construction 

 of their homes and I have yet to see a 

 nest of these well-known birds which 

 was not largely composed of mud mixed 

 with other materials. Many other spec- 

 ies use mud in their nests, but the Eave 

 Swallow is perhaps the most exclusive 

 in the use of this material, as the entire 

 structure of the Republican Swallow, as 

 it is also called, is of mud with a few 

 hairs to hold the mortar in place, and 

 often these hairs are almost or entirely 

 absent. The nests of the Eave or Cliff 

 Swallow are made by the additions of 

 little pellets of mud, which partakes of 

 the nature of mortar and after becom- 



