BIRDS OF THE MIDDLE STATES. 7 
The width of the cavity is about two inches; the depth in the centre, 
three-foni'ths of an ^nch. 
Tlie most beautiful fabric, as well as the most compactly built, which 
we have seen, was obtained in the spring of 1876, not far from Ger- 
mantown, Pa. It was placed upon a horizontal branch of an apple-tree, 
in close proximity to a farm-house. Externally, it is thickly covered with 
bluish-gray crustaceous lichens, which are held in place by a few cobwebs, 
and fragments of the silk of caterpillars. The base consists of dried stems 
of grasses, and on these is reared a neat and cosy superstructure comjiosed 
of the inner fibres of the wild and cultivated species of the vine, and a 
slight sprinkling of wool. These materials are variously intenvoven, and 
arranged around the margin so as to form a cavity. The dimensions of 
this nest are as follows: External diameter, three and a half inches; 
height, one and a half inches ; width of cavity, two inches ; depth in the 
ceiitie, till ee-fourths of an inch. In the Plate it is rejiresented the natu- 
ral size — built upon an oak branch. 
In the details of form and dimensions, this nest differs immateri- 
ally from specimens which we have met with in New Jersey, Delaware, 
and elsewhere. But wherever obtained, they will mostly be found to bear 
a very close resemblance to one another, differing chiefly in the character 
of the articles which constitute the inner arrangement. 'MT will nierelv 
mention one example which was taken by Mr. MTlcli, in Lynn, ^ilass', 
and which ivill give onr readers some faint conception of the extent 
to which variation is often carried. This structure was placed upon 
a dead linili of a forest-tree. Its walls were comjiosed of small dry 
stems and vegetable down, finely interwoven, and covered on the outside 
with lichens which were cemented to it by a viscid secretion that was 
apparently siiiiplied liy the Imilders. The base was somewhat flattened, 
much thinner than tlie walls, and composed of finer materials. The ex- 
ternal diameter was three inches, and the height one and a half inches ; 
the ca^ity, two and a hall inches at the rim, and the depth one inch. 
Ha^ ing finished their home, only a day or so intervenes when ovi- 
