BALTIMORE ORIOLE, OR GOLDEN ROBIN. 157 
trees, (such as the elm, the pear, or apple-tree, wild- 
cherry, weeping-willow, tulip-tree, or button-wood.) It 
is begun by firmly fastening natural strings of the flax of 
the silk-weed,* or swamp-holyhock, f or stout artificial 
threads, round two or more forked twigs, corresponding 
to the intended width and depth of the nest. With the 
same materials, willow down, or any accidental ravellings, 
strings, thread, sewing-silk, tow, or wool, that may be lying 
near the neighbouring houses, or round the grafts of trees, 
they interweave and fabricate a sort of coarse cloth into 
the form intended ; towards the bottom of which they place 
the real nest, made chiefly of lint, wiry grass, horse and 
cow hair, sometimes, in defect of hair, lining the interior 
with a mixture of slender strips of smooth vine bark, and 
rarely with a few feathers, the whole being of a con- 
siderable thickness, and more or less attached to the ex- 
ternal pouch. Over the top, the leaves, as they grow out, 
form a verdant and agreeable canopy, defending the young 
from the sun and rain. There is sometimes a considera- 
ble difference in the manufacture of these nests, as well 
as in the materials which enter into their composition. 
Both sexes seem to be equally adepts at this sort of labor, 
and I have seen the female alone perform the whole with- 
out any assistance, and the male also complete this labo- 
rious task nearly without the aid of his consort ; who, 
however, in general, is the principal worker. I have ob- 
served a nest made almost wholly of tow, which was laid 
out for the convenience of a male bird ; who, with this aid, 
completed his labor in a very short time, and frequently 
sung in a very ludicrous manner, while his mouth was 
loaded with a mass larger than his head. So eager are 
they to obtain fibrous materials, that they will readily tug 
* Asclepias species. f Hibiscus palustris. 
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