BIRD CRADLES. 
47 
Two Visitors to the Caterpillar Nest. 
pecTiliar pref- 
erence ? In 
tlie wilder re¬ 
gions of tlie 
country tlie liair of tlie deer is also said 
to be a common substitute or accompani¬ 
ment. Certain observers claim that the 
red-eyed vireo lias an occasional fancy 
for scpiirrel-liair, which is sometimes 
found in considerable cpiantities in its 
nest. I have found what I have assumed 
to be the abandoned nest of the solitary 
vireo, distinguished mainly from the 
others by the hairy lining and the em¬ 
ployment of moss and lichen within the 
interior; one nest lieing plentifiillT 
lined with sheep wool from a neighlior- 
ing pasture. The snow-bunting would 
be at a loss in its boreal nest without the 
fur of the arctic fox. Various of these 
cradle-building ingredients readily rec¬ 
ommend their utility in the qualities of 
strength, pliability, warmth, etc., while 
others again are only to be accounted 
for on the hypothesis of the passing 
whim or humor of the build¬ 
er. Twigs, strips of tough 
bark, string, wiry roots, grass, 
spider silk, cocoons, vege¬ 
table strands of one kind and 
another, all appeal to our sense of the fit¬ 
ness of things, but what special advan¬ 
tage is indicated in the following instance 
of caprice ? Here is the worm-eating ai- 
bler, for instance, whose nest is seldom 
free from dried hickory and chestnut cat¬ 
kins. The oven bird’s lint is generally in- 
termeshed with fruiting stems of urn 
moss, with their dried spore-caps. The 
Nashville warbler is partial to a mesh of 
pine needles and horse-hair ; while the 
puiqfie finch considers hog-bristles and 
horse-hair a more suitable compound. 
The Kentucky warbler, and various 
other warblers, show a preference for 
the pith of weeds. Perhaps the prairie 
Avarbler has discovered some rare virtue 
in cast-off caterpillar skins that ordi¬ 
nary humanity cannot guess. Its nest, 
I am told, usually showing a penchant 
toward this singular ingredient. 
But this bird is not alone in this odd 
choice, of which others of the warlfiers 
and the vireos occasionally avail them¬ 
selves. In addition to spider silk, and 
