2 
THE MUSEUM. 
Few birds are less regardful of position than the wren. In June, 1882, near the 
town of Thornbury, Pa., a pair of wrens selected the space in a stationary block over a 
sheave in a derrick, as a site for a home, and therein deposited their favorite sticks and 
feathers. A similar structure had occupied the same spot the previous year, and a 
brood of young ones raised. These nests, in the elements of composition, differed not 
from the typical form. It is their strange and anomalous situation, rather than any¬ 
thing else, that excites our interest and astonishment. The materials of the nest were 
so dexterously arranged as not to interfere with the revolution of the wheel. The en¬ 
trance to the nest was on the side facing the rope that moved the pulley. The opposite 
side could have been used for this purpose, and doubtless with less danger to life or 
limb, but a preference seems to have been shown for the other. Why this was so 
remained an unsolved problem, for some time; but when each bird was seen to 
alight upon the rope at the top of the derrick and ride down to the nest, the 
reason became apparent. Never did linnet enjoy the rocking twig with half 
the zest that these eccentric creatures did their ride adown 
the rope. A hundred times a day, when the necessity 
arose, they treated themselves to the same pleasure, the 
rope moving at the rate of thirty-five feet in a second 
of time. Six days out of seven, from morning until night, 
they had the benefit of this mode of conveyance, and 
nothing occurred to disturb their peace and harmony. In 
due time a family of happy, rollicking children was raised, 
and the nest in the derrick deserted. In the accompany¬ 
ing drawing,' c shows the position of the nest, a the place 
where the birds would alight upon the rope, and b where 
they left it before entering the nest. 
Before me is a curious nest of the swamp blackbird. 
This is a rather bulky affair for the species, and was found 
built in the top of a cluster of cat-tails. It is firmly made 
of broad grasses, and securely fastened to the stems of the reeds, some eight in number, 
by the same kind of material that enters into its composition. 
Icterus spurius, of the sub-family of orioles, constructs a truly characteristic nest, 
pouch-shaped in form, and either pensile or built upon a branch. Soft and flexible 
grasses, neatly and compactly woven together, constitute its outer fabric, while within 
there may exist wool, either vegetal or animal, or a lining of fine grasses mixed with 
horse-hairs. The handsomest nest I have ever seen was found by Richard Christ, in the 
vicinity of Nazareth, Pa., in the season of 1883. It is of the usual size, being five 
inches in height, and three in external diameter, but different from the typical form in 
the materials of composition. Instead of the leaves of grasses, which one naturally 
expects to see in such structures, this was exclusively built of the stems and heads 
of a species of gramineous plant remarkable for its golden brightness in a state of 
dryness. 
