BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
53 
Having mated, the happy pair, with no more delay than is absolutely 
necessary, start off together in search of a nesting-place. This is a matter 
that is easily accomplished, as almost any forest-tree of small or medium 
height, answers the purpose. In some situations, the beech, maple, sassa- 
fras and common laurel are in special demand. Why this is so, it is 
impossible to divine. 
High woods, with an abundance of small trees, are generally chosen. 
Here, the nests are not often placed higher than five or six feet above 
the ground. Sometimes, though rarely, they are found swinging from a 
pendent bough, more than fifty feet high. Nidification seldom occurs in 
compactly-built cities. Never more than a single instance has ever been 
observed by us. This happened in the summer of 1876. 
A site being chosen, building at once commences. This occurs in the 
Middle States between the twelfth of May and the fifteenth of June; in 
New England, about the first of the latter month ; in Texas and Louisiana, 
somewhat earlier ; and in Nova Scotia, a trifle later. At Fort Eesolution, 
at the Cumberland House, and at Fort Simpson, nests and eggs have been 
taken, but we are left in ignorance as to the time. 
The construction of a home is the result of the united labors of both 
birds, each collecting and adjusting its own materials. The time devoted 
thereto varies from six to seven days, and is regulated by the industry 
of the builders and the condition of the weather. For this purpose a 
bifurcated branch is first chosen. To this is attached, by means of cob- 
webs, strips of bark, threads of moss, and the silk of catei'iiillars, a 
delicate framework. This is mainly composed of bark, decayed pine-wood, 
vegetable fibres, etc., held together by silk, and, possibly, in a slight 
degree, by a gummy secretion supplied by the builders. This structure is 
long, tenuous, open and narrow, presents a somewhat collapsed a]:) 2 iearance, 
and resembles, though remotely, the perfect fabric. But it lacks shape and 
symmetry. To give it these essentials, the birds construct an inner nest 
out of bits of paper, fragments of hornets’ nests, and strips of oak bark. 
