YELLOW WARBLER 349 



of a myriad insects which are feeding on its sweets. It 

 is, apparently, these that attract the yellowbird. 



May 12, 1853. The yellowbird has another note, 

 tchut tchut tchar te tchit e war. 



June 24, 1853. A yellowbird's nest in a fork of a 

 willow on Hubbard's Causeway, resting chiefly on the 

 leading branch ; of fine grass, lined with hair, bottom 

 outside puffing out with a fine, light, flax-like fibre, 

 perhaps the bark of some weed, by which also it is 

 fastened to the twigs. It is surprising that so many 

 birds find hair enough to line their nests with. If I 

 wish for a horsehair for my compass sights I must go 

 to the stable, but the hair-bird, 1 with her sharp eyes, 

 goes to the road. 



Jan. 18, 1856. Analyzed a nest which I found Janu- 

 ary 7th in an upright fork of a red maple sapling on the 

 edge of Hubbard's Swamp Wood, north side, near river, 

 about eight feet from the ground, the deep grooves made 

 by the twigs on each side. It may be a yellowbird's. 



Extreme breadth outside, three inches ; inside, one 

 and a half. Extreme height outside, three inches ; in- 

 side, one and five eighths ; sides, three quarters of an 

 inch thick. 



It is composed of seven principal materials. (I name 

 the most abundant first ; I mean most abundant when 

 compressed.) 



1. Small compact lengths of silvery pappus about 

 seven eighths of an inch long, perhaps of erechthites, 

 one half inch deep and nearly pure, a very warm bed, 

 chiefly concealed, just beneath the lining inside. 



1 [The chipping sparrow.] 



