OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 319 



one, somewhat retarded its labors. Instances 

 have fallen under our notice where preparations 

 were begun as early as the first week of February. 

 On such occasions a pair of females antl a single- 

 male, on warm, sunshiny days would busy them- 

 selves for hours together in carrying dried grasses 

 and feathers into a hollow tree. Labor would be 

 suspended when the weather was unusually severe, 

 and resumed on the accession of mild weather. 

 A noticeable feature was the perfect good-will and 

 harmony which prevailed among the individual 

 members of this trio. \Ve anxiously awaited the 

 ultimate result of this tripartite covenant, but 

 In! fore the completion of the nest, from some 

 cause unknown to us, the locality was abandoned 

 and has not since been occupied. It might be 

 presumed that as these Sparrows resort to hollow 

 trees for shelter during cold winter nights, that the 

 aforementioned articles were designed to render 



. / o 



their roosting quarters more comfortable and de- 

 sirable. 



A nest which we possess and which was built 

 in a hollow branch of an apple-tree, measures 

 fifteen inches in length and has a diameter of four 



o 



inches. The basis is composed of a heterogeneous 

 medley of feathers, divers grasses, and various 

 leaves, and the periphery of a thick wall of dry 

 plant-stems intermingled with feathers. The labor 

 of building is performed jointly by both birds. 

 The nest just described is unusually large, and 

 was the result of continued additions to the origi- 



