OF THE UNITED STATES 329 



the birds are not much bigger than young humming-birds, but 

 they grow rapidly, and, at about the time they were ready to quit 

 the nest I made a photograph of both, taking it of natural size. 

 (See Fig. 81.) Upon examining the structure of this nest I find 

 it to be composed of the following materials: inside it is some- 

 what thickly lined with the very finest kinds of grass, vegetable 

 fibers, and the white hair of some animal, — the three being beau- 

 tifuly interwoven in such a way as to give a smooth and even 

 surface. This lining is completely blended with the outer struc- 

 ture of the nest, in which latter much of the same material is 

 used, but to this part of the structure the birds had added bits 

 of white string, feathers, rather coarser grasses, scraps of cot- 

 ton, and tiny pieces of wool, and similar materials. The weav- 

 ing is extremely intricate and close, and the nest below is built 

 around little limbs of the fork that supports it. In form it is 

 deeper than it is broad, being somewhat sub-ellipsoidal in general 

 contour. They do not vary much, though one that my son found 

 had a good deal of cotton in its composition. 



Some of these warblers are very beautiful birds, as, for exam- 

 ple, the Prothonotary (P. citrea), the Magnolia (D. maculosa), 

 the Cerulean warbler (D. ccerulea), the Blackburnian (D. black- 

 burniw), and others; some are rare, as Swainson's or Kirtland's 

 (H. swainsonii and D. kirtlandi) ; others again are extremely 

 plain in plumage and seclusive in habit. They are, however, all 

 deserving of our closest study, and any one adding reliable data 

 to the known chapters in the history of any of them will be doing 

 ornithological science a distinct service and benefit. 



Passing next to the family Fringillidw, we find it to be repre- 

 sented in Hie United States avifauna by a large and varied col- 

 lection or assemblage of birds, of which the Grosbeaks, the Bunt- 

 ings, the Towhees, the Finches of different species and subspe- 

 cies, the Sparrows, the Snowbirds and others, are all characteris- 

 tic examples. The study of this large and extensive group of 

 forms is extremely interesting and important, especially when 

 we come to consider their number, their habits, their wide geo- 

 graphical range, their morphology, and their economic relation 

 to man. But it is not my intention to enter upon any of these 

 subjects in the present connection, as even a general considera- 

 tion of them would far exceed the limitations of our space. It is 

 my desire simply to bring before my readers certain comparative 

 data by means of which I hope to make clear to them the growth 



