BIRD CRADLES. 
53 
of plants that the nests are indebted for 
their downy lining. Here is another 
picture of a dainty home, and one that 
may be verified in the woods if our eyes 
are only sharp enough. If the nest of 
the yellow warbler is a che/" cVceiivre what 
shall be said of this, the work of the 
small blue-gray gnatcatcher, one of the 
most refined art-treasures among our 
native nests ? It is usually hung among 
the twigs of a tree, somewhat like that 
of a vireo, though sometimes placed on a 
branch. The body of the nest is closely 
felted together with the softest materi¬ 
als of the forest bird scales, dried blos¬ 
soms, vegetable downs, and the delicate 
cottony substance which envelopes the 
unfolding fronds of fern, with flexible 
skeletons of leaves as an external frame¬ 
work. The rim of the nest is generally 
contracted. But the most marked feat¬ 
ure of the structure is its ornamenta¬ 
tion ; the whole exterior being closely 
thatched with small, brightly-colored, 
greenish-gray lichen. 
The wooUy, unrolling fronds of many 
of oui- ferns are a familiar feature of the 
spring woods, and offer at this season, 
and later, from the mature stems, a 
tempting crop to a number of our more 
diminutive birds, including the various 
warblers, the black and white creeper, 
and humming-bird, etc. 
This exquisitely soft, buff-colored ma¬ 
terial, for convenience called “fern-cot¬ 
ton,” however, is not all from the ferns. 
A close analysis with the magnifier dis¬ 
closes a diversity of elements. Some of 
it has been sheared from the mullein. 
The woolly bloom from young linden 
leaves and buds of white and red oak 
have already been identified in the sub¬ 
stance, the stems of everlasting have fur¬ 
nished a generous share, and there are 
doubtless elements from a hundred other 
sources best known to the birds. Some 
of it, too, has already served in the winter 
snuggery of the horse-chestnut bud be¬ 
neath the varnished scales, 
I once observed a tiny bird, presum¬ 
ably a kinglet, gleaning among the open¬ 
ing leaves, now webbed and festooned 
with the liberated soft yeUow down, 
that most beautiful of all the spring’s 
revelations of bursting buds, so aptly 
figured by Lowell in the provincial 
tongue of Hosea Biglow : 
Vor. VIIL-5 
“The gray lioss-ehestnut’s leetle hands unfold 
Softer’n a baby’s be at three days old.” 
How irresistibly does this recall that 
companion couplet in the “ Pastoral 
line” from the same memorable para¬ 
graph, so true to the spirit of the vernal 
season : 
“ In ellum slirouds the liasliin’ liang-biijd 
clings 
An’ for tbe summer vy’ge bis hammock 
slings.” 
For the skilful nests of the vireos have 
yet their matchless pattern in the work 
of that prince of weavers, the “hang- 
bird,” or Baltimore oriole, whose swing¬ 
ing, pendulous nest is a masterpiece, 
not only of textile art, but equally of 
constructive skill, whether from an en¬ 
gineering or architectural point of view. 
What sagacious perception of means and 
inteUigent discrimination in their em¬ 
ployment are here disclosed ! The trite 
maxim that “the strength of a'chain is 
only that of its weakest hnk ” would seem, 
on a superficial glance at the nest, to be 
entirely ignored by the oriole, the at¬ 
tachment of the nest often seeming to 
exhibit a daring dearth of material and 
in singular contrast to the elaborate 
density of the weaving below. A closer 
examination, however, shows a most sa- 
g-acious compensation in the economy 
of this apparently weak portion, for here 
it will be found in almost eveiy instance 
the toughest fibre in the entire nest has 
been concentrated, in most cases that 
have come under my observation; and 
in three specimens now before me, con¬ 
sisting of remnants of strings, fish - line, 
strips of cloth securely twisted and 
looped around the forked or drooping 
twigs, the loose ends below being intri¬ 
cately interwoven among the gray hem¬ 
pen fibres of which the body of the nest 
is composed, the whole structure being 
literally sewed through and through 
with long horse-hairs. 
Eemembering Wilson’s investigations 
into the similarly compact nest-fabric 
of the orchard oriole, from which he dis¬ 
entangled a strand of grass only thirteen 
inches long, but which in that distance 
was thirty-four times hooked through 
and returned in the meshes, the relation 
of which fact led an old lady acciuaint- 
