lO JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Finally he deigned to fly down and supervise the nest building, even 

 bringing one or two small particles of fiber, but the exertion was too 

 much and he retired to sing from a near-by tree. 



The nests are always placed on the ground, usually at the foot 

 of some small bush or on a hummock and concealed in the moss. 

 It takes seven to nine' days to build the nest, and on its completion 

 an egg is laid each day until the set is completed. The eggs are 

 usually laid between 6 and lo A. M. The process of incubation be- 

 gins as soon as the first egg is laid. Four eggs are usually laid, but 

 often five or three is the complement. The ground color of the eggs 

 is white, and they are minutely speckled with dots of reddish-brown, 

 lilac and shades of intermediate color. The specks are thickest 

 about the larger end of the eggs. A set of three eggs observed at 

 Fort Kent, Maine, July lo, 1904, measured respectively: .66 x .46, 

 .64 X .48, .64 X .49 in. The nest was composed of fine moss, fine 

 grass and spruce tw^gs, lined with fine pine needles and grass. Its 

 outside diameter was 3i inches ; inside diameter, if inches ; depth 

 outside, if inches ; inside, i inch. 



This nest was situated on an open wooded hillside at the foot of 

 and between two small spruce trees, imbedded in the moss. Nests 

 from central Maine contain less moss and twigs and rather more 

 pine needles and grass, but are otherwise the same in general size 

 and appearance. 



The earliest date when eggs have been found near Bangor is 

 June 3rd, while the latest nesting date at hand for the species is the 

 one previously mentioned as found at Fort Kent, July loth, with 

 nearly fresh eggs. The period of incubation, as nearly as I have 

 been able to determine it, is slightly over eleven days. One bird re- 

 lieves the other on the nest, and at times when the eggs were very 

 near the hatching point I have seen the male bring insect food to its 

 mate on the nest. Possibly the male may feed its mate at earlier 

 stages of the process of incubation, but I have never happened to 

 notice it. 



Both birds join in feeding the young and supply them with in- 



