THE CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 261 



site, consisting usually of a natural cavity in some tree near the borders of a 

 forest, in an old orchard, or in a dead stump leaning over water, and frequently 

 an abandoned excavation of one of the larger Woodpeckers is used. Natural 

 cavities are preferred, however, where such are obtainable, even should these 

 be much more extensive than are really needed, as instances are known where 

 openings in hollow limbs fully 6 feet deep have been filled up with rubbish to 

 within 18 inches of the top before the nest proper was begun. Both sexes 

 assist in nest-building, aud it takes sometimes fully two weeks before their task 

 is completed. The finishing and lining of the nest is generally completed by 

 the female. In Florida and other Southern States nidification begins ordinarily 

 during the first two weeks in May; in the Middle States, in the latter half of 

 this month and the first week in June; and in the more northern portions of its 

 breeding range, rarely before the middle of this mouth, or not until the weather 

 has become quite warm. 



The nests of the Crested Flycatcher vary greatly in bulk and composition 

 according to the localities in which they are placed. The trees most frequently 

 used for nesting sites are old apple or pear trees, different species of oaks, maple, 

 ash, cottonwood, and pines. A nest taken by Mr. J. W. Preston on June 3, 

 1881, near Eldora, Iowa, from a dead stump about 6 inches in diameter, stand- 

 ing on the banks of the Iowa River, and which filled 8 inches of the cavity, 

 began with a base of coarse trash and was finished with fine twigs, bunches 

 of cattle hair, pine needles, dry leaves and grasses, the tail of a rabbit, pieces of 

 Catbirds' eggshells, exuviae of snakes, owl and hawk feathers, tufts of wood- 

 chucks' hair, and fine grass roots. Another nest, taken by Dr. W. L. Ralph, 

 near San Mateo, Florida, on May 16, 1892, was placed in a hole in the side of 

 a rotten stump in low, flat pine woods, and was composed of dry cypress leaves, 

 pine needles, grasses, sphagnum moss, dead leaves, bunches of hair, snake 

 exuviae, strips of cypress bark, weeds, grass roots, palmetto fiber, and feathers; 

 it was lined with bunches of hair, feathers, strips of cypress bark, and pieces of 

 snake skin. 



Exuviae of snakes seem to be present in the majority of the nests of this 

 species; they are sometimes incorporated in the nest proper, and again they are 

 placed around the sides of it, in all probability for protective purposes, and 

 are changed and rearranged from time to time. But few nests are found which 

 do not contain more or less of this material, and occasionally whole skins enter 

 into their composition. 



Mr. W. E. Loucks, of Peoria, Illinois, writes me: "I found a very remark- 

 able nest of the Crested Flycatcher some years ago. The curious feature about 

 it was that the birds had taken an enormous snake skin, probably that of a black- 

 snake, and had so arranged it within the entrance of the cavity that the greater 

 part of it hung outside. What other motives could the birds have had than that 

 of alarming intruders? Although usually a bird of the woods, I have found their 

 nests in a summerhouse on a picnic ground. The house was quite large and fre- 

 quented nearly every day by crowds of people ; nevertheless this did not disturb 



