192 BIRDS' NESTS 



spiders' webs, wool, and vegetable down, the walls 

 more or less garnished with lichens; internally it is 

 finished off with fine roots, grass stems, and horse- 

 hair. Lastly, we have the Rufous Warblers (Aedon). 

 These birds construct rather bulky nests made of 

 dead twigs, roots, straws, coarse grass, and bits of 

 lichen, and line them well with wool, vegetable down, 

 feathers, or hair. It is a somewhat remarkable fact 

 that the lining almost invariably includes a piece of 

 the dry skin of a serpent, which the Arabs assert acts 

 as a charm in protecting the eggs from snakes ! 



The nests of the Dippers (Cinclidse) are invariably 

 domed ; as are also the majority of those of the Wrens 

 (Troglodytidse), and these must therefore be reserved 

 for a future chapter. Some few of the latter birds, 

 however, construct open nests. Then we come to the 

 American family JVlimidse, of which the well-known 

 Cat-bird (Mimus carolinensis) is a representative 

 species, or the still more celebrated Mocking-bird 

 (M. polyglottus). The methods of nidification in this 

 family very closely resemble those of the typical 

 Thrushes, to which birds the Mimidse must be closely 

 related. The Cat-bird builds a large, clumsy nest at 

 no great height from the ground (three to ten feet, 

 perhaps, on an average) on the branch of a cedar, or 

 some other tree. It is made of dry grass, the stems 

 of plants and twigs, and lined with fine roots. One of 

 its most striking peculiarities is the way in which it is 

 often decorated outside with bits of rag and paper and 



