THEOOLOGIST ^'^ C^ 



133 



I searched diligently for more than 

 half an hour among the low shrubs and 

 bushes for the late owners of the nest, 

 but not a sign or a sound of a Towhee 

 did I discover. 



I presume the young Cowbird had 

 grown quite independent during the 

 interval between my visits to the nest, 

 and had left its foster parents and was 

 associating with others of its kind. 

 Glen M. Hawthorn, 

 Cedar Rapids, la. 



The Nesting" of Birds. 



There are few species of birds that 

 build two or more nests each year 

 though only one is occupied by the fe- 

 male with eggs. These extra nests are 

 called "cock's nests" in England, but I 

 do not think that the name is fully ap- 

 plicable, as the mother bird not rarely 

 assists in their construction, as I have 

 repeatedly observed in the case of at 

 least two kinds of wrens. The wrens 

 are much given to this peculiarity, and 

 a careful study *of the subject has fully 

 satisfied me that if undisturbed the 

 birds will always attempt this extra 

 nest building. The idea prevails that 

 the cock bird employs his time in this 

 "expansion of possessions" while his 

 mate is setting, but that this is not 

 always so I am prepared to prove, as 

 I have seen both birds busily engaged 

 on a nest, when there were not any 

 eggs in the locality, and yet there were 

 eight partly construced nests within a 

 circle of thirty yards, and all due to 

 one pair of Long-billed Marsh Wrens. 

 It is fair to say that this species con- 

 structs at least seven or eight mock 

 nesis to one in which the eggs are laid, 

 and the eggs are often deposited in 

 very slimsy excuses for nests when 

 much better ones are standing idle 

 within a few yards. We found a group 

 of twenty odd nests, all evidently the 

 work of one pair of birds, and only 

 one of these contained eggs. The 



Short-billed Marsh Wren is also given 

 to this peculiarity, as well as the House 

 Wren; the latter often making as many 

 as five nests in the vicinity of the in- 

 habited one, when cavities are at hand^ 

 and I doubt not that this well-known 

 bird would fill a dozen or more spaces 

 if they could be found conveniently. 



The Florida Gallinule often builds an 

 extra affair, sometimes two or three of 

 them in the marsh near to the nest 

 containing the eggs. In these cases the 

 nests are nearly always poorly made 

 and not to be compared with the home 

 nest. I have always observed the habit 

 to a lesser degree in the Carolina and 

 Virginia Rails. Of the otner birds, the 

 only ones which I have thought were 

 given to this habit of constructing nests 

 needlessly, are the Yellow Warbler, 

 Trail's and small Green-crested Fly- 

 catchers; and I have not fully satisfied 

 myself as to an established habit in a 

 single case. 



In building nests, birds often steal 

 material from one another and I have 

 had repeated proofs of this. The vireos, 

 especially the Red-eyed and Warbling 

 will remove nest materials from the 

 hanging structure of the Baltimore 

 Oriole. The imported sparrows are 

 the greatest theives, and there is no' 

 limit to their depredations. Barn Swal- 

 lows will take feathers from one anoth- 

 ers nests, and I have seen Blue-backed 

 Swallows pilfer feathers from the cav- 

 ities occupied by Bluebirds, as well as 

 from the nests of their own kind. 



Many species of birds are very prodi- 

 gal in the use of materials in nest con- 

 struction, and spread the timbers all 

 about their homes. This is especially 

 noticeable in the case of some of the 

 hawks, more particularly the Buzzard 

 Hawks, and I have counted over two 

 hundred sticks beneath a tree contain- 

 ing a Red-tail's nest. The ground un- 

 der the trees which hold a colony of 

 Herons is often found to be covered 

 with twigs and sticks of all sizes. The 



