1922] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Stikine Region 271 



The nest taken (no. 1821) is more compact than most of those 

 found at Telegraph Creek, due to the firmer support given by the 

 short, stiff fir twigs, closely encircling the structure, as compared with 

 the sparse and slender branches of the lodgepole pine. It measures 

 as follows: outside diameter, 178 mm.; inside diameter, 76; outside 

 depth, 76 ; inside depth, 38 mm. The black moss enters into the con- 

 struction of this nest to a greater extent than in any of the others. 

 There is but the scantiest framework of twigs on the outside, lending 

 support to the moss, which forms about nine-tenths of the entire struc- 

 ture. There is but very little of the white fiber that is so conspicuous 

 in some of the others. 



Fig. BB. Nest and eggs of waxwing found near Telegraph Creek; nest near 

 the top of a small lodgepole pine. Photograph taken June 22, 1919. 



It will be seen that the waxwings' nests were all very much alike 

 in structure and location. All were in conifers, in rather open woods, 

 and not far above the ground (six to twenty -five feet). The nests 

 with one exception were against the trunk of the tree. The building 

 material was always the same, an outer structure of dead twigs, lend- 

 ing support to a mass of black moss and white plant fiber. Dry grass 

 was used as a lining sometimes but not always. The black moss was 

 the one material that was used in the greatest amount, and it appears 

 in all but one of the nests. This moss grows abundantly on the conifers 

 of the region, depending from the branches in great masses, like coarse 

 hair. The white plant fiber that is also so conspicuous in the nests is 

 from the seed pod of the previous year's dead "fireweed" {Epiloiium 

 angustifolium) . 



