NESTS. 



BY THEODORA RICHARDSON. 



The houses of our friends, if built by them, reflect their indi- 

 viduality, and though all are built of wood, stone or brick in 

 varying proportions, a wondrous variety is produced. 



Our bird neighbors, using twigs, rootlets, hair, string, bark, 

 plant-down, mud (and in some cases unusual materials, depend- 

 ing upon environment) , show their individualit}^ in their selec- 

 tions, combinations and locations. As varied as the materials 

 are the locations ; in trees, in tree-trunks, under eaves, barns, 

 sheds or bridges ; in banks, in low shrubs, and on the ground ; 

 each family instinctively choosing that kind of site which has 

 been the established custom of preceding generations. The 

 characteristic nest-building of different families, and different 

 species in a family, is no less wonderful than the selection of 

 location. 



Returning from a fall outing, two interesting bird trophies 

 were brought home by friends, and were duly brought out for 

 my inspection when I arrived to hear of their travels. They 

 were the vireo's handiwork, but who shall say which, the Red- 

 eyed, the Yellow-throated, or the White-eyed ? All are made 

 of similar material-, and are pensile, being suspended from a 

 forked branch. The Red-eyed vireo is most frequently found 

 about here. Its nest is composed largely of strips of bark, with 

 an interlining of finer strips, so closely resembling the pine 

 needles as to easily deceive one ; but what attracts the casual 

 observer is the artistic outer covering of strips of bark from the 

 white birch, and some of those tough, white spider-egg-silk- 

 cases found on old boards. William Hamilton Gibson tells us 

 that fragments of hornets' nests, as well as newspaper scraps, 

 are favorite materials, and he once found a novelty, even for a 

 vireo, " a nest entirely composed of snake-skins." 



I once found the nest of a Red-eyed vireo hardly three feet 

 from the ground, close by a path not much frequented until 



