Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States / Illustrated

by Thomas G. Gentry

Than the nest of the Thistle Bird, as this species is sometimes called, no more beautiful structure of the basket in form and the felted in texture is known to exist. In shape it is symmetrical, delicately and neatly woven, and skilfully and securely fastened to the forked twigs between which it is placed. In beauty of design, and elegance of finish, it is a perfect model of architectural skill. A structure before us from Philadelphia may be considered as typical. It is placed in a crotch, and held in situ by four small nearly upright branches, which are partially wrought into the fabric. The outside is composed of the tassels of the common chestnut, stems of knotweed, leaves, fragments of fungus, interwoven with an excess of flax-like fabrics and vegetable wool. The inside is lined with divers shreds of dandelion and thistle, neatly and compactly felted. The external diameter and height are each two and a half inches, and the cavity two at the rim and the same in depth.

A nest from Union County, Pa., nearly two hundred miles distant from the former locality, varies materially in size and in the character of composing materials. When found it was placed between two horizontal twigs joined at right angles to another, to which it was firmly attached by hempen fibres. On the right of the nest further security was afforded by a vertical twig, to which it was bound by similar cords. Fine roots of grasses, spiders' webs, cotton string, twisted and untwisted yellowish hempen cords, nicely and evenly felted, constituted the exterior. Within there was a lining of yellow rootlets and white horse-hairs, the latter in excess. The nest is hemispherical, and measures three inches in width, and the same in height. The cavity is two inches in diameter and of equal depth. This nest was discovered about the fifteenth of August, and contained a brood of tender fledglings.

Another fabric is somewhat exceptional in position. It rests upon a horizontal limb, and is still further supported by three inclined twigs on the one side, to which it is fastened by strings and the ravellings of colored cottony fabrics. The exterior is made of raw cotton, animal wool, hempen strings, vegetable fibres, rootlets of grasses, rather ingeniously interwoven. Interiorly there is a strange commingling of wool and horsehairs. The bottom of the cavity is hardly covered, the twig which forms the basis of the structure being clearly discernible. in external diameter it measures two and a half inches, and in depth but two; the width and depth of the cavity are identical, being about one and three-fourths inches.

In New England, according to Samuels, the nest of this species is built of soft strips of the cedar and grape-vine bark, which are elaborately woven into a compact structure around a deep hollow, which is softly lined with the down of thistles, and, occasionally, with a few feathers.

After the completion of the nest, which ordinarily requires the united efforts of both birds for six days to accomplish, the female, on the following day, begins to deposit her eggs. These to the number of five are laid at the rate of one a day. Incubation commences on the day subsequent to the last deposit, and lasts for ten days. This duty devolves exclusively upon the female. The only part which the male performs is the indirect one of providing his companion with suitable nourishment. When not thus engaged he cheers the tedium of her task by an agreeable ditty. By some writers he is considered more of a dandy than a family man, as he spends the greater portion of his time with his fellows in the pursuit of food, in the arrangement of his toilet, or in the pleasures of the bath. Our experience is different. While he takes no direct part in the incubating process, his affection for his mate, and his constant desire to please her, prove him to be, in every sense, a model companion. When their home is assailed, he does not sneak away, and allow his partner to bear the brunt of the battle to be waged in its defence, but comes boldly to the front, and with loud clamors, angry gesticulations, and wide open jaws, unites with her to expel the intruder. Where frequent interferences occur, the birds are often forced to forsake their nest, and seek other quarters. This perhaps will account for the fact that nests with eggs are sometimes found as late as the fifteenth of July, and others with young birds during the last week of August. Such delays are doubtless of common occurrence.

The destruction of a nest while incubation is progressing, most generally leads to the renewal of the attempt in some other place. The desire for offspring will often be found to triumph over the most insuperable difficulties. We have known instances where the same pair had been thwarted four times in succession, and as often renewed the attempt. An unfortunate male or female may sometimes be doomed to lead the life of a celibate, by reason of the scarcity of individuals of the opposite sex. Perhaps an event has occurred which has altered the status of affairs. A male has died, and his partner is compelled to break up house-keeping, or seek another. If she does the latter, her companion may be a widower, or one that has been unable to enter into matrimonial relations for the reasons already assigned. Not willing to father the responsibilities of another, the old home, and its once precious charges if there be any, must be abandoned, and another domicile constructed and peopled. The mating being effected, a suitable spot chosen, a home prepared, and the subsequent duties of oviposition and incubation successfully passed through, all of which requiring time, it is not remarkable that nests should be found so late in the season.

Coming back from this necessary digression, the young are from eleven to twelve days old when they leave the nest. The addition of a week or ten days to this period finds them sufficiently matured to attend to their own wants. At first they are fed by the parents upon various soft-bodied insects, which they glean from the branches and foliage of trees, but later on, butterflies and various species of andrena and halictus are brought to them. When able to provide for themselves, they consort with their parents, and subsist with them on various kinds of seeds and berries.

The young do not acquire their full plumage until the following spring. Their characteristic dress in the fall nearly resembles that of the adult female. It is reddish-olive above, and fulvous-yellow below. Across the coverts there are to be seen two broad bands, and broad edges of pale rufus to the last half of the secondaries. The female is yellowish-gray above, greenish-yellow below, and is devoid of the black on the forehead. The adult male has a bright gamboge-yellow dress, which is in a great measure relieved of its sameness by the black crown, wings and tail. A still further variegation is noticeable in the lesser wing-coverts, lower edges of the greater ones, ends of secondaries and tertiaries, inner margins of tail-feathers, upper and lower tail-coverts, and tibia, which are white. In the winter a yellowish-brown color replaces the yellow, the wings and tail become browner, and the black of the crown is lacking. The under parts take on an ashy-brown hue, which passes into white behind, and yellowish along the throat. The entire length of the mature birds is five and a quarter inches, while that of the wing is three.

The eggs of this species, when fresh, are white, with a slight roseate tinge. In blown specimens they show a faint bluish hue. Their nearest counterparts are Lawrence's Goldfinch, from which they are scarcely distinguishable. They are usually four in number, although five sometimes occur, and in shape are oval. Their dimensions vary even in the same nest-full. Specimens from New England vary from .68 by .53 to .63 by 50 inches. Others from California measure .60 by 50. Pennsylvania eggs have an average measurement of .66 by .53. Considerable diversity of opinion exists as to the number of broods annually raised. Nuttall alleges that they raise two, but seems to base his assertion upon the fact that nests are found from the first of July to the middle of September, which in our estimation is wholly accounted for by explanations given above. The mass of writers, however, differ from him, and believe the species to raise but a single brood annually. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we can safely say that not a single case has occurred to us of double-broodedness.

It may be thought strange that these birds should, as a rule, be so dilatory in their movements, so far as the assumption of matrimonial relations is concerned, being even behind the generality of our Warblers, which are not so well-adapted to the climate as they An explanation of the matter has been attempted by Dr. Brewer. He seems to think that the cause is attributable to the scarcity of proper aliment for the young in early summer. The greater abundance of insects found in July, especially in their larval stages, which must necessarily constitute a fair percentage of their diet at first, would seem to contradict such a statement. Our experience goes to show that more nests with young birds are found from the middle of June to about the tenth of July than at any subsequent period, just at the time when insect life riots in luxuriance.