144 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



find, particularly the male, but during a lifetime spent with it I have 

 never seen any indication that the bird deserves this reputation. 



It nests freely in towns and cities, many pairs doing so annually in 

 Charleston. It is not unusual to see a male perched on a telephone 

 wire above a street, delivering its song completely in the open and at 

 some distance from any cover. Regarding its tendency to frequent 

 the proximity of human habitation, I know of no spot more closely 

 identified with this bu*d than the grounds of Mr. and Mrs. Carl 

 WiUiams and the latter's sister. Miss Clara Bates, in Fort Pierce, Fla. 

 Miss Bates and nonpareils are synonymous. This charming lady has 

 maintained a feeding station for the birds for years and has come to 

 know the species intimately. 



Miss Bates (MS.) says: "These birds of the forest edge find a 

 perfect winter habitat in the botanicaUy interesting Florida 'high 

 hammock' adjoining our yard. This piece of untouched native growth, 

 approximately three acres in extent, provides both cover and food. 

 Cabbage palms, live oaks, red bay, hickory, gumbo limbo, and mul- 

 berry rise above the lower growth of tree-like shrubs and smaller 

 bushes, and are festooned with many species of vines. Everything 

 in this sub-tropical 'jungle' bears fruit or seeds. At the edge of the 

 hammock low-growing plants and grasses add their quota of food for 

 the birds. Because of the dense shade in the hammock many of the 

 fruits and seeds mature in mid-winter, and because of that fact there is 

 never any scarcity of food. 



"But regardless of the abundance in the hammock, the nonpareils 

 prefer the table spread for them in our yard. They use the hammock 

 for cover, but I never see them in the heart of it. Their favorite 

 hide-away is the immense spread of saw palmetto, with its impene- 

 trable tangle of prostrate trunks and sharp-edged leaves. The huge 

 fanlike fronds give concealment from enemies, and protect the bkds 

 from storm, or a too ardent sun. I hear them flitting and rustling in 

 the palmettos all day long, and occasionally catch a glimpse of bright 

 eye or gay plumage. 



"My feeding station is placed three feet from the edge of the ham- 

 mock, near the palmettos. A tray is fastened to the side of a red bay, 

 and a large bush of snowberry (Chicocca alba) surrounds the twin 

 trunlvS of this tree. I spread food underneath the bush near a large 

 flowerpot saucer that serves as the birds' bath. I feed a commercial 

 mixture of cracked wheat and corn, and add sunflower seeds. Water 

 is an added attraction." 



Accounts of the selection of a perch when singing are greatly con- 

 fused. No less eminent an authority than WiUiam Brewster (1882b) 

 says that "The bird almost invariably sings in the depths of some 

 thicket, and the voice ceases at the slightest noise." How Mr. 



