286 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



ously to the lower part of the breast, and in spots to the tibite ; the belly and under tail 

 coverts white, streaked faintly with brown, except in the very middle ; edges of winga 

 and tail feathers brownish-red; lesser coverts like the back; two reddish bands across 

 the wings (over the ends of the middle and greater coverts); lores dull-gi-ayish. 



Female olivaceous-brown, brighter on the rump; beneath white; all tlie feathers 

 even^where streaked with brown, except, on the middle of the belly and under coverts, 

 a superciliary light stripe. 



Length, six and twenty-five one-hundredths inches; wing, three and thirty -four 

 one-hundredths; tail, two and fifty one-hundredths; bill, above, forty-six one-hun- 

 dredths of an inch. 



This species, although quite common in many localities 

 of New England, is very irregularly distributed. For in- 

 stance, it breeds abundantly in and near Cambridge, Mass., 

 but is not found in any other part of the State in any thing 

 like the abundance that it is there. In that locality, it is 

 one of the most common l)irds breeding ; in other localities, it 

 is occasionally found in only detached pairs. So, in Maine, 

 it is common in the neighborh(>od of the Umbagog lakes ; but 

 elsewhere it is not often seen. There seems to be, as Mr. 

 Allen justly remarks, a great increase of this species within 

 the last few years ; and it is beginning to be one of our most 

 common species. The birds separate into pairs soon after 

 their arrival, about the middle of April, but do not com- 

 mence building before the middle of May. They are occa- 

 sionally resident here through the mild winter ; but, as a 

 general thing, they arrive in New England in flocks of ten 

 or a dozen about the last of March. The nest is usually 

 built in a pine or cedar tree, and is sometimes thirty or even 

 forty feet from the ground, — oftener about fifteen or twenty. 

 It is constructed of fine roots and grasses, and is lined with 

 horseliair and liogs' bristles. One specimen in my collection 

 has the cast-off skin of a snake woven in the rest of the 

 fabric ; and I have seen nests lined with mosses. Generally, 

 hairs of different animals form the lining, and roots and 

 grass the main structure. 



Tlie eggs are of a beautiful bluish-green color, and marked 

 with spots and streaks of black : their form is a sharply 

 pointed oval, and their dimensions vary from .94 by .64 inch 



