476 



GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 



imitate the slowly lisping trill of the Indigo Bird, whose 

 warble indeed, often greatly resembles that of this species. 

 The female, before hatching her brood, is but seldom 

 seen, and is then scarcely distinguishable from a common 

 Sparrow ; nor is she ever to be observed beyond the hum- 

 ble bushes and weeds in which she commonly resides. 



The nest of our bird is usually built in a low bush, 

 partly concealed by rank grass or grain ; I have also 

 seen one suspended in a complicated manner in a trel- 

 lised grape-vine in a garden ; and, being left undisturbed, 

 it built near the same spot the succeeding year. When 

 in a bush, the nest is suspended betwixt two twigs, pass- 

 ing up on either side. Externally it is composed of 

 coarse sedge-grass, some withered leaves, and lined with 

 fine stalks of the same, and the slender hair-like tops of the 

 bent-grass (Agrostis), with a very few cow-hairs, though 

 sometimes they make a substantial lining of hair. The 

 nest which I saw, in the vine, was composed outwardly 

 of coarse strips of bass-mat, weeds, and some strings 

 picked up in the garden, and lined with horse-hair and a 

 few tops of bent-grass. The eggs, about 5, are greenish 

 white, and without any spots. (Wilson speaks of a blotch 

 of purple at the great end.) The young here scarcely 

 leave the nest before the end of July, or the first week in 

 August ; and they raise probably but a single brood in 

 the season. They appear to show great timidity about 

 their nest, and often readily forsake it when touched, or 

 when an egg is abstracted. Their usual note of alarm, 

 when theaselves or their young are approached, is a 

 sharp ts ij, quickly and anxiously repeated, resembling 

 almost the striking of two pebbles. They will not forsake 

 their young, however ready they may be to relinquish 

 their eggs ; and they have been known to feed their brood 

 very faithfully through the bars of a cage in which they 

 were confined. 



