216 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



running to rather a sharp point on one side beneath. 

 Extreme diameter outside, four and a half to five 

 inches ; within, three inches ; depth within, two inches ; 

 without, four or more. The principal materials are ten, 

 in the order of their abundance thus : — 



1. Reddish and gray twigs, some a foot and more in 

 length, which are cranberry vines, with now and then 

 a leaf on, probably such as were torn up by the rakers. 

 Some are as big round as a knitting-needle, and would 

 be taken for a larger bush. These make the stiff mass 

 of the outside above and rim. 



2. Woody roots, rather coarser, intermixed from 

 waterside shrubs. Probably some are from cranberry 

 vines. These are mixed with the last and with the bot- 

 tom. 



3. Softer and rather smaller roots and root-fibres of 

 herbaceous plants, mixed with the last and a little fur- 

 ther inward, for the harshest are always most external. 



4. (Still to confine myself to the order of abundance) 

 withered flowers and short bits of the gray downy stems 

 of the fragrant everlasting ; these more or less com- 

 pacted and apparently agglutinated from the mass of 

 the solid bottom, - and more loose, with the stems run 

 down to a point on one side the bottom. 



5. What I think is the fibrous growth of a willow, 

 moss-like with a wiry dark-colored hair-like stem (pos- 



sibly it is a moss). This, with or without the tuft, is the 

 lining, and lies contiguous in the sides and bottom. 



