144 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
and Hanging Bird, from the beautiful pensile nest which it 
makes. 
The general shape of these nests is much the same in every j 
specimen, and a good idea of it may be formed from the illus- 
tration, which was taken from a nest in my own possession. 
It is almost entirely made of vegetable fibres, and is so strongly fi 
constructed, that, although it had been knocked about for II 
some years in the neglected spot whence I rescued it, and was 
once crushed into a shapeless mass at the bottom of a wine 
hamper by a careless servant, and covered with soot and dust, 
it has retained its form, and shows perfectly well how the 
fastening to the branches was managed. 
The materials of the nest are, however, extremely variable, jl 
the bird having a natural genius for nidification, and being 
always ready to take advantage of any new discovery in archi- 1 
tecture. One of these nests, described by Wilson, was deeper I 
in proportion than the specimen which has been figured, being 
five inches in its widest diameter and seven in depth, the 
opening being contracted to two and a half inches. Various ! 
materials, such as flax, tow, hair, and wool, were woven into 
the walls, which were strengthened by horsehairs, some two 
feet in length, sewn through and through the fabric. Cow’s 
hair was also employed for the bottom of the nest, and, like 
the walls, was sewn together with long horsehairs. 
The same writer remarks, that 4 so solicitous is the Baltimore 
to procure proper materials for his nest, that in the season of 
building, the women in the country are under the necessity 
of narrowly watching their threads that may chance to be out 
bleaching, and the farmer to secure his young grafts ; as the 
Baltimore, finding the former, and the strings which tie the 
latter, so well adapted for his purpose, frequently carries off 
both. Or, should the one be over heavy, and the other too 
firmly tied, he will try at them for a considerable time before 
he gives up the attempt. Skeins of silk and hanks of thread 
have often been found, after the leaves were fallen, hanging I 
round the Baltimore’s nest, but so woven up and entangled as 
to be entirely irreclaimable. 
