OF EASTERN- PENNSYLVANIA. 125 



nis\ besides a variety of small spiders that reside 

 temporarily within the flowers and upon the foliage 

 of plants; aphides, especially Aphis mali, and also 

 our commonest ants. The stamens and ovaries of 

 blossoms, with fragments of corollas, have been 

 found within the stomachs of several individuals. 



This last cited fact materially lessens the esteem 

 in which it is held, and proves- in this, as in many 

 instances, that no species can be considered as an 

 unmixed good. 



We have never observed this species in the 

 autumn, and are led to believe that it does not 

 stop from its southward-bound journey. 



During the breeding-period throughout North 

 America, it resides " east of the Great Plains 

 between latitude 44 and Fort Simpson in the fur 

 country," ( Vide North American Birds, page 233). 

 Mr. Audubon describes the nest as being built of 

 lichens and moss, externally, and lined with fibrous 



* ' 



roots and feathers, and as b'jing placed upon fir- 

 tree branches, and sustained bv horizontal twigs. 



^ o 



Nidification must take place during the latter part 

 of June, as a nest was found in Labrador by the 

 same gentleman, in the beginning of July, with five 

 rather elongated eggs. These are described as 

 being of a white color, with a sprinkling of reddish 

 dots at the larger end, and as being 1 three -fourths of 



o o 



an inch in length and nine-sixteenths in breadth. 



A nest w r as obtained by Mr. Kennicott near 



Great Slave Lake, June 12, 1 860, which was loosely 



built and placed within a small spruce, in a dense 



