436 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



localities it breeds. A few are I'ouiid once in a while as far east as Calais, in 

 the spring, and they are rather occasional than common in Eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, but arc more plentiful in the western part of the State, becoming 

 quite common about Springfield, arriving May 15, and remaining about four 

 months, breeding in high open woods and old orchards. In South Carolina 

 it is abundant as a migrant, thf)ugh a few remain and breed in the higher 

 lands. Mr. Audubon states, also, that a few breed in tlie higher portions of 

 Louisiana, and Dr. Heermann found them breeding at El Paso, in New Mex- 

 ico. They are far more al)undant, however, in the States of Pennsylvania, 

 New Jer.sey, Virginia, and thrnughout the Mississippi Valley, arriving early 

 in May, and leaving in October. Though occasionally found in tlic more 

 sparsely settled ))ortions of the country, in orchards and retired gardens, they 

 are, as a rule, inhabitants of the edges of forests. 



Tlieir more common notes are simple and brief, resembling, according to 

 Wilson, the sounds chip-charr. Mr. liidgway represents them by chip-a-ra'- 

 rec This song it repeats at brief intervals and in a pensive tone, and with 

 a singular faculty of causing it to seem to come from a greater than the real 

 distance. Besides this it also has a more varied and musical chant resem- 

 bling the mellow notes of the Baltimfire Oriole. The female also uttere simi- 

 lar notes when her nest is approached, and in their mating-season, as they 

 move together through the branches, they both utter a low whispering war- 

 ble in a tone of great sweetness and tenderness. As a wliole, this bird may 

 be regarded as a musical performer of very respectable merits. 



The ibod of this species is chiefly gleaned among the ujiper branches, and 

 consists of various coleopterous and other insects and their larviu. Later in 

 the season they consume various lands of wild berries. 



When their nest is approached,- the male bird usually keeps at a cautious 

 distance, as if fearful of being seen, but his much less gaudy mate hovers 

 about the intruder in the greatest di.stress. Wilson relates quite a touching 

 instance of the devotion of the parent of this species to its young. Having 

 taken a young bird from the nest, and carried it to his friend, Mr. P>artram, 

 it was placed in a cage, and suspended near a nest containing young Orioles, 

 in hopes the parents of the latter would feed it, which they did not do. Its 

 cries, however, attracted its own parent, who assiduously attended it and su])- 

 plied it with food for several days, became more and more solicitous for its 

 liberation, and constantly uttered cries of entreaty to its offspring to come 

 out of its jH'isou. At last this was more than Mr. Bartram could endure, and 

 he mounted to the cage, took out tlio prisoner, and restored it to its parent, 

 who accompanied it in its flight to the woods with notes of great exultation. 



Early in August the male begins to moult, and in the course of a few days, 

 dressed in the greenish livery of the female, he is not distinguishable from 

 her or his young family. In this humlile garb they leave us, and do not 

 resume their summer. plumage until just as they are re-entering our southern 

 borders, wlien they may be seen in various stages of ti'an.sformation. 



