94 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 
choice of strands by which the nest is anchored to the swinging 
, bough, its support being almost entirely dependent upon a cer- 
tain brown silk from the cocoon spider (Argzope Riparia). 
Often in my rambles have I pulled this floss from its round 
'tough cocoon suspended among the weeds, and wondered wheth- 
er the arts might not yet prove its utility! And here it is, ad- 
justed with artful design just where its need is most apparent 
and its strength recommends it, lapping and overlapping the 
forks, and extending across the span from twig to twig, where it 
is interwoven and twisted with strong strips of bark and long 
wisps from the stalk of the milk-weed or similar hempen sub- 
stance. The economy of this spider silk is manifest in all the 
five nests of this kind which are before me, and while it appears 
occasionally lower down in the structure, these outcroppings 
prove to be only the ends of the loops which encompass the 
twig and are securely anchored among the interwoven meshes 
of the fabric. The reliance of the bird on the strength of this 
material would seem perfectly plain, for in the nests wherein it is 
largely employed much fewer strands of bark are passed about 
"the twigs than when the inferior white cobweb is used at this 
point of support—a fact which I have often noticed. 
The cobweb element forms an important amalgam in the 
nests of all the vireos, of which the above will be recognized as a 
specimen. Laid on in snowy tufts, or artfully twisted into fine 
threads—I cannot believe this twisting to be accidental—meshed 
about the basket framework or drawn across some precious bit of 
hornet’s nest or glistening yellow birch-bark or newspaper clip- 
ping, or hung below in fluffy tassels, it is a recognized badge of 
this particular tribe of feathered architects, whose pendent nests 
are among the most picturesque of all our birds. The hereditary 
art of nidification of the vireos has probably suffered little change 
through the ages. As a rule their nests, unlike those of other 
pensile builders, are wrought from Nature’s own raw materials, 
and, even as we generally find them, might have been constructed 
a thousand miles from the haunts of man or a thousand years 
ago. And yet, in one particular respect, it must be admitted, the 
