BIRD CRADLES, 
43 
tain brown silk from the cocoon spider 
{Argiope Riparia). 
Often in my rambles have I pulled 
this tioss from its round tough cocoon 
suspended among the weeds, and won¬ 
dered whether the loom might not yet 
prove its utility ! And here it is, adjusted 
with artful design just where its need is 
most apparent, and its strength recom¬ 
mends it, lapping and overlajjping the 
forks and extending across the span 
from twig to twig where it is interwoven 
and twisted with strong strips of bark 
and long wisps from the stalk of the 
milkweed, or similar hempen substance. 
The economy of this sj^ider silk is mani¬ 
fest in all the live nests of this kind 
which are before me, and while it ap¬ 
pears occasionally lower down in the 
structure, these outcroppings prove to 
be only the ends of the loops which en¬ 
compass the twig and are securely an¬ 
chored among the interwoven meshes of 
the fabric. The reliance of the bird on 
the strength of this material would seem 
ing yellow birch-bark or newspaper clip¬ 
ping, or hung below in fluffy tassels, it is a 
recognized Ijadge of this particular tribe 
of feathered architects, whose pendent 
nests are among the most picturesque of 
all our lairds. The hereditary art of 
nidilication of the vireos has probably 
suffered little change through the ages. 
As a rule their nests, unlike those of 
other j^ensile builders, are wrought from 
nature’s own raw materials, and, even as 
we generally find them, might have been 
constructed a thousand miles from the 
haunts of man or a thousand years ago. 
And yet, in one particular respect, it 
must be admitted the nest often betrays 
the degenerating human contact. It is 
an admitted fact that many of the vireos 
manifest a strange fascination for the 
newspaper, fragments of which are often 
a conspicuous contamination in their 
motley fabrics, composed most com¬ 
monly of generous strips of white and 
yellow birch, hornet’s nest, dried leaves, 
grape-vine bark, ascle23ias hemp, bits of 
perfectly plain, for 
in the nests where¬ 
in it is largely 
e mployed, m u c li 
fewer strands of 
bark are passed 
about the twigs 
than when the in¬ 
ferior white cob¬ 
web is used at this 
point of suj^jDort— 
a fact which I have 
often noticed. 
The cobweb ele¬ 
ment forms an im¬ 
portant amalgam 
in the nests of aU 
the vireos, of which 
the above will be 
recognized as a 
specimen. Laid 
on in snowy tufts, 
or artfully twisted 
into fine threads— 
I cannot believe 
this twisting to be 
accidental— mesh¬ 
ed about the bas¬ 
ket framework or 
drawn across some 
precious bit of hor¬ 
net nest or glisten- 
Allen's Humming Bird at Home. 
