THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 125 



The eggs are from four to six in number, white, with a 

 greenish or bhiish tinge and with reddish brown spots, 

 two-thirds by half an inch in size. 



The birds breed in northern British America and in win- 

 ter frequently find their way south as far as New Jersey, 

 generally occurring in considerable flocks. The general 

 supposition is that they come hither only when their food 

 supply fails in the north on account of too much snow. 

 They are very cheerful and their bright crimson agreeably 

 relieves the sombre landscape of winter. They feed on 

 seeds, generally in orchards or gardens. 



Redsl€irt. — Length, five and two-fifths inches; extent, 

 six and one-fourth inches; bill, one-fourth of an inch in 

 length, black, with bristles at the base; entire head, back 

 and breast, glossy blue-black; belly, white, a patch on 

 each side of the breast brilliant salmon red; wings, dull 

 black, crossed by a salmon red bar; central pair of tail 

 feathers, black, others salmon, except the terminal third, 

 which is black. The female is grayish olive above and 

 dull white beneath, with all the salmon markings replac- 

 ed by yellow, the band on the wing being less in extent. 

 Young males apparently do not acquire their full dress 

 until their second spring; their plumage in the first spring 

 is like that of the female, but with more or less black 

 feathers on the head and breast. 



The nest is built in the crotch of a sapling or in a low 

 bush; it is a carefully constructed contrivance, made of 

 bark and leaf stalks, interw^oven with plant down and flax, 

 and lined with tendrils and fine roots. The eggs are 

 either four or five in number, of a grayish white, some- 

 times tinged with blue, and with brown spots, two-thirds 

 by one-half an inch in size. 



The birds breed in eastern North America, some in 

 New Jersey, but comparatively few^ in the southern part 

 of the state. They are abundant in this state during mi- 

 grations, between April 80 and May -2(1, and again be- 



