BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
35 
ruthless invader. For several successive years a nest was to be seen on 
the same tree and branch, but whether the work of the same pair, we are 
unable to say. 
That this species is not very particular as to the kind of tree in 
which it builds, has been our experience, and we do not find any recorded 
instance of disagreement. Dr. Brewer mentions but one kind of tree in 
which it builds — the a2Jple. In addition to it, we have found nests saddled 
u]')on the pear, red-oak, white-oak, willow, red maj^le, sugar maple, cotton- 
wmod, beech, pine, etc. In fine, almost any tree will answer this purpose, 
as the generality of arboreous growths are more or less favorable to the 
develo2)nient of lichens. Several anomalous 2iositions, as on 2dne-cones and 
warty excrescences, have frequently been met with in our ornithological 
rambles. 
The nest is the result of the joint labor of both birds, wdio work 
with unwearied perseverance and diligence until it is conqdeted ; the 
male furnishing the raw material to be manqmlated and adjusted by his 
zealous partner. Occasionally, the latter assists her “liege lord” in col- 
lecting and bringing in his burden. 
In the matter of conqmsition, there is but little difference in fabrics 
from the most distant regions. Nests from Texas are exact counteiqiarts 
of those from Georgia ; and these, again, resemble others from Pennsyl- 
vania and Michigan. All we have seen are coni2:)Osed mainly of a woolly 
substance of vegetable origin, 2)lucked from the leaves of the common mul- 
lein, or from the young and nnexpanded leaves of the various species of 
oak, immediately before their full develo2iment. This substance, after 
being wrought into form and symmetry, is strengthened on the outside 
by small woody fibres, or the webs of S 23 iders. Ovei' all is 2^1aced a 
close and compact thatching of small lichens, a species of Parmelia, 
glued thereon by the viscid saliva of the builders. Ou the inside may 
be frequently observed a thin lining of white feathers ; and, on the out- 
side, a few dried catkins. In dimensions, these nests usually measure 
one and a half inches in external diameter, and nearly one and three- 
