The iraterials used in nest building consist principally of 
small dead branches with more or less dry seaweed, and pieces 
of sod built in, while the cavity, which is barely five inches 
deej- and ten inches in diameter, is lined with a small quantity 
of seaweed or soft pieces of cedar bark. 
The nests vary greatly in size, which depends somewhat 
npC'U the length of time they have been occupied. The out¬ 
side depth varies from a foot and a half to seven feet (as in 
the one formerly located in the top of a hornbeam forty feet 
up, on the Kickemuit River) and with an outside diameter of 
from three to five feet. 
The Fish Flawks have a remarkable love for strange ob¬ 
jects to decorate their nests with, as is well shown by the fol¬ 
lowing list of articles which 1 have found upon climbing to 
them: Corn stalks, pieces of sod, cow dung, sticks, barrei 
hoops staves and heads, a tent peg, feather duster, rusty tin 
dipper, leather strap, shingles and small pieces of wood, cork 
floats, pieces of fish net, small stones and broken shells, an 
old shoe, bones, very frequently the empty egg cases of the ray 
or sand-shark, and from under one nest a pair of old overalls 
was dangling in the breeze. 
By May lo housekeej^ing duties have commenced in 
earnest, and full sets of eggs are found in every nest, some 
having been incubated for a week. Three eggs constitute a 
complete set usually, while four are the exception, and often 
two will be all that are laid. Frequently a pair that lays four 
eggs will do so for three or four years in succession. 
The egg laid by this bird is one of the most beautiful 
specimens found, varying greatly in shape, color and markings, 
ranging in shape from an “ovate to either a short rounded, 
elliptical or elongated ovate.“ “The ground color is usually 
creamy white, and this is sometimes so evenly and regularly 
overlaid with pigment as to give it a huffy or vinaceous appear¬ 
ance. Now and then, a specimen is found showing a uniform 
color throughout, without any indication of blotches. The 
markings show an equally wide range of variation, both in 
amount and size. The majority of eggs are heavily blotched 
and spotted, but generally more thickly about the larger end, 
and their markings include nearly all the different shades of 
