62 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



the general plumage of the male adult is a raspberry red; 

 back, duller; belly, grayish white; sides, gray, with dull 

 red streaks; tail and wings, dark slaty brown, with red on 

 the edges; legs, dark purplish flesh; feet, brown. The 

 plumage of the female is wholly unlike that of the male, 

 being of a dark grayish brown, with black streaks, the 

 belly being white, with brown streaks. The young males 

 resemble the female in plumage. 



The nest of this bird, almost invariably built in ever- 

 green trees, is made of twigs and small roots and lined 

 with hair ; the eggs are four-fifths by half an inch in size, 

 of a light blue with slate spots, and from four to six in 

 number. 



The birds breed in New England and the Alleghanies 

 and occur in New Jersey frequently in flocks from the 

 first of October to the first of May, some going further 

 south during severe winters. 



The song, frequently heard especially in large river 

 valleys, is a very sweet warble. 



The food of the bird is confined almost wholly to buds 

 and small berries ; they are esj^ecially fond of cherry 

 blossoms and in the spring frequent the elm trees along 

 with the Goldfinches, feeding on the soft buds. 



Firebird. See Baltimore Oriole. 



Flirker^ fmoUlen-wins^ed Jl'ooflperker^ "i'eUoir- 

 haninier^ Mish-hole or Clape, — Length, twelve inch- 

 es ; extent, twenty inches ; bill, one and one-third inches ; 

 back, brown, transversely barred with black ; head, gray, 

 with a light red crescent on the hind neck ; rump, w^hite ; 

 throat and neck, pinkish cinnamon ; breast, with a broad 

 crescent-like patch of black ; rest of under surface dull 

 white, tinged with cinnamon and thickly marked with 

 round black spots ; wings and tail beneath golden yellow ; 

 tail above black, shafts yellowy and feathers at its base 

 barred black and white ; feet, bluish. The male may be 



