Snakes' Sloughs as Nesting Material

of lining, and possibly, in their own opinion, ornamentlng, their nests with curious objects of animal origin, the most conspicuous cases being of those birds which insist on using a snake's slough for this purpose, such as the Great-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), one of the American Tyrants, and the Rufous Warbler (/ledon galactodes) of Europe; in India, the Black Robins (Thamnobia) and that burrowing Starling, the Bank Mynah (Acridotheres gingianus) also have this curious selective habit. All of the birds with this liking for snakes' old clothes breed in holes, and it has been suggested that the slough is used to terrify intrusive lizards, which are no friends to eggs and young birds, and are themselves preyed upon by snakes." I have caused to be italicized the first part of the last sentence quoted from Mr. Finn's book, for his statement cannot be confirmed. For many years, in fact, ever since I first became a student of the science of herpetology, I have been interested in this peculiar nesting habit. I personally know of three species of North American birds (Myiarchus crinitus, Baeolophus atritristar us' and Guiraca caerulea), which almost invariably make use of one or more snakes' skins, torn into large or small fragments, in the making and ornamenting of their nests. Two of these birds, the Flycatcher and the Titmouse, nest in holes, the third does not. A fourth species, the Roadrunner, as I know from observation, as well as through my reading, frequently lines its nest with pieces of cast-off snake skins. This ground Cuckoo nests in the