6 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
requiring the performance of long and extended tours of observation 
and exploration. These reconnoissances generally last for a week, but 
eventually result in the choice of a locality well adaj^ted, as far as 
the essential conditions of shelter and security are concerned, to become 
the dej:)Ository of a nest. The site generally chosen for this import- 
ant puiq^ose is a tall open woods with a preponderance of ash or oak 
trees ; hut where a time-honored orchard is the reci]3ient of this favor, 
which is sometimes the case, the apple, on account of the many advan- 
tages which it possesses, is jireferred above all other fruit-trees. 
The site being mutually agreed upon, the happy pair proceed at once 
with all possible dispatch and diligence to construct a domicile : the male 
to collect and bring in the necessary materials ; the female, to fix them in 
their ^iroper places, and also to give shape and symmetry to the structure. 
The time devoted to this work varies with the industry of the builders, 
the style of the nest, and the character of the neighborhood. But, where 
the birds are laboring under the most favorable circumstances, the task is 
easily accomplished in five days. 
This admirable piece of bird-architecture, which rivals in beauty and 
symmetry the nest of our little Euby-throatetl Humming-bird, is either 
saddled upon a living or dead limb that is horizontal and lichen-clad, or 
else upon the crotch of a l)ifurcated l)ranch, and is placed above the 
ground at elevations A'arying from five to thirty feet. According to 
Kuttall, “the body of the fal:>ric” occasionally consists of “wiry grass or 
root fibres but we have yet to meet Avith a nest Avith “ small branching 
lichens held together Avitli cobAvebs and caterpillars’ silk, moistened Avith 
saliva,” as that author remarks. In a structure before us, Avhich is typical in 
its character, small strips of inner bark plucked from trees of chestnut and 
oak, bits of toAV, and fragments of avooI, circularly arranged and compactly 
pressed together, are the preA'ailing constituents. Externally, it is closely 
iiiA'ested Avith the Iduish-gray crustaceous lichens Avhich are so 
upon the trunks of certain trees, and also iqion fence-rails. In diameter, 
it measures three and a half inches ; in height, one and a half inches. 
