202 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



another, during the season for which she was 

 espoused. In some cases this alliance is dissolved 

 at the close of the breeding-season, to be re- 

 assumed during the subsequent spring; in others, 

 the separation is, doubtless, permanent, another 

 taking the place of the discarded suitor; again, the 

 union is life-loner. We believe that this relation- 



o 



ship in some cases, at any rate, with the present 

 species is life-long, unless this important business 

 is attended to at the time of setting out from its 

 southern home. 



Nest-building commences about the i5th of 

 May, and is the joint labor of the sexes. A nest 

 is two days in building. Scraps of paper, leaves, 

 grasses, feathers, and bits of strings, are utilized 

 for this purpose. The whole is quite loosely ar- 

 ranged. Oviposition commences the clay after 

 the nest is completed, and lasts from four to five 

 days; one egg being laid per diem. Incubation 

 commences on the ensuing day, and continues for 

 a period ranging from 1 1 to 12 days, according to 

 meteorlogical vicissitudes, and the assiduity of the 

 female. As we have not detected the male en- 

 gaged in sitting, we presume that it is wholly per- 

 formed by the female. While the latter is thus 

 occupied, he is very attentive, thoughtful, and 

 provident. They are both extremely assiduous 

 in their attentions to the young, and feed them 

 upon the larvae of various lepicloptera, mosquitos, 

 small spiders, and mature forms of Tabanus line- 

 olq, Musca domestica, and Qrialis and its allies. 



