90 Bird - Lore
decoration,‘ if it have any significance. is assuredly not designed to make the nest conspicuous through display, but inconspicuous by bringing it into harmony with its surroundings, Nests of the Wood Pewee, Blue- gray Gnatcatcher and Hummingbirds are examples of this class The Verdin makes its soft, upholstered nests impenetrable by so thickly cover- ing it with spines and thorns that it can be handled with difficulty.
A too liberal interpretation of habit, in the case of the Crested Fly» catcher, credits this bird with intentionally introducing a cast snakeskin into its nest, to serve as a scarecrow. frightening would~he intruders. The explanation is important, if true, but there is no evidence to support it. A cast, bleached, everted snakeskin is soft and pliable, and makes good nesting material. As a matter of fact, it bears small resemblance to a snake, and there is no reason to believe it protects a nest a hit more effectively than fragments of wasps' nests or a lining of hairs. It is the habit of the members of the genus Myiarr/Jur, so far as they are known, to use snakeskins in nestebuilding, just as it is the habit of certain Vireos to employ wasps' nests, but how the habit originated will, doubtless, never be known. So far, however, as the Flycatchers and \‘ireos of to-day are concerned, the fact that snakes' skins and wasps’ nests can be used to advantage in nest»building is, doubtless, sufi-icient cause for the selection of these objects.
The nest may be built by both sexes: by the female alone, or by the female with a limited amount of assistance from her mate, who may be permitted to bring material but not to place it in position A nest may he completed within a few days and occupied at once, or even before it is finished Again, weeks and
Building of the Next
in some few cases, for example, the Oven-birds (Fur-Marius) of South America, the nest is begun two or three months before it is to be occupied
Even when finished a nest may not please its maker, who will then demolish it and use the material in the construction of another home. In other species, a nest may be completed and abandoned; while some species, Longebilled Marsh Wrens, for instance, build a number of nests and use but one,
The care required to obServe closely nest-building birds without causing them to abandon operations. as well as the locality, doubtless accounts for the comparatively limited amount of correct information on this subject, and creates a correspondingly wide field for investigation.
The character of birds' nesrs, from the architectural point of view, may differ greatly even when the material of which they are composed is the same. The structure of the bird, or in other words. the tools with which it is provided, does not often govern the type of home which it will build. A Swallow, it is true,
Chamth of [In Nut:
