BIRD CRADLES. 
51 
aud durable ; tlie exterior is formed 
of layers of silkweed lint, gliitinonsly 
tliough slightly attached to the support¬ 
ing twig, mixed with some slender strips 
of fine bark and pine leaves and thickly 
bedded with the down of willows, the 
Nankeen wool of 
the Virginia cot¬ 
ton grass (^Erio- 
phorinn Virgini- 
ciun), the down of 
fine stalks, the hair 
of the downy seeds 
of the buttonwood 
{Flatamis), or the 
pappus of com¬ 
pound howers, and 
then lined either 
with fine bent 
grass [Agi'osti^) or 
down and horse¬ 
hair, and, rarely, 
with a few acci¬ 
dental feathers,” 
presenting a fanci¬ 
ful bit of bird ar¬ 
chitecture as well 
as a keen piece of 
analysis, in which 
the erudite botan¬ 
ist is as conspicu¬ 
ous as the orni¬ 
thologist. 
One other “yel¬ 
low bird,” the gold¬ 
finch, builds a sim¬ 
ilarly excjuisite 
hoine, but reserves its nesting till a much 
later season than most of our birds, a 
fact which has caused no little discussion 
among naturalists ; the commonly ac¬ 
cepted, though hardly satisfactory, the- 
orv having reference to a scarcity of the 
required seed-food for the young during 
the vernal months. In a similar vein of 
reasoning it might be claimed that the 
nesting was deferred to await the ri2:)en- 
ing of certain favorite 2)lnmy seeds of 
which the structure is usually composed. 
One theory is as good as the other, for 
both are somewhat shattered l)y numer¬ 
ous instances of nidification as early as 
the middle of May, in which the nest is 
of course comjDosed of seasonable downy 
elements; for the willows and poplars 
then offer their silken tribute, and the 
dandelion balls cloud the meadows. 
For some years I was puzzled to ac¬ 
count for a certain mutilation which I 
had often observed on the dandelion. 
As is well known to some of my readers, 
the dandelion usually blooms three con¬ 
secutive days ; after which the calyx 
A Good Place for a Wren’s Nest. 
finally closes about the withered flower, 
and withdraws beneath the leaves. Here 
it remains for a week or more, its stem 
gradually lengthening while the seeds 
are maturing, until, on the fourteenth 
day from the date of first flowering, the 
smoky ball ex^^ands. For some days 
2:>rior to this fulfilment the seeds are 
practically full feathered, the growing 
2)a2q)us having forced the withered 2')etals 
from the tij) of the calyx. On several 
occasions I have observed the side of 
their calyxes torn asunder 
terior conqffetely enq>tied 
tents of a hundred or more 
seeds. I had attributed the theft to 
some whimsical cateiqhllar ajqfetite, un¬ 
til one day I suiqu’ised the true burglar in 
the act. I observed a small black bird 
rummaging sus^jiciously in the grass, 
and the in- 
of its con- 
winged 
