Rare and Curious Nests. 277 
for his little beak always finds something to do while his 
patient wife is busy with the duties that lead to maternity. 
Coming like whirling leaves, half autumn yellow, half 
green of spring, their colors blending like the outer petals 
of grass-green daffodils, no more sociable and confiding little 
creatures are to be found in our midst than the Yellow War- 
blers. They are as much at home in the trees by the house 
as in the fields and woods. Wherever they wander, the 
glints of sunshine that flash from their backs should make 
the most miserable complainer feel the summer’s charm. 
But in spite of their seeming preference for man, they are 
prone to build in lonely fields and by-ways. In such places 
it becomes one of the especial victims which the Cow Bird 
selects to foster its random eggs. But the Warbler puts its 
intelligence effectively to work, and builds a second story 
to its nest, thus flooring over the unwelcome eggs. This 
expedient is repeated as long as the Cow Bird continues her 
mischief, until sometimes a three-story nest is achieved. The 
outside of the nest, composed of glistening milkweed flax, 
is pressed into a felt-like case, the fibres serving at the same 
time to lash the nest to its support. Within, to the depth of an 
inch, is a soft sponge-like material, which the birds have 
made from the wool they have gathered from the stems of 
young ferns. A few horse-hairs, to give shape and stability 
to the nest, are to be found in the inside of the felt-like 
lining. 
Hundreds of nests, quite as novel as any that have been 
described, might be instanced, showing varieties from so- 
called normal forms, but I shall content myself with only 
another example. Everyone is familiar with the Ruby- 
throated Humming Bird, so common in the eastern half of 
the United States. It is the smallest of all our birds. But 
its nest, which is by no means scarce, is a rare sight to the 
average man and woman. No nest can be compared with it. 
It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. A mass of cotton, 
with a hole in the top, and thatched all round with blue-gray 
