This section is from the book "The Gardener's Monthly And Horticulturist V25", by Thomas Meehan. See also: Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long.
"T.," Wilmington, Delaware, says : "Noticing your remarks on the nest of the wood pewee, I would ask if you have seen that of the great green-crested fly-catcher? The former decorates with lichens, the latter invariably with a snake's skin. I have seen hundreds of the nests, and have never seen one without the snake's skin. The lichens serve to conceal the nest of the pewee, as they do that of the hummingbird, which always uses them and conceals its nest effectually, but why does the fly-catcher use the snake-skin? Is it to terrify robber birds? It builds in a hole in a tree, often not far from the ground. The skin is woven in around the margin of the nest, and is made very conspicuous."
 
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