436 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



localities it breeds. A few are found once in a while as far east as Calais, in 

 the spring, and they are rather occasional than common in Eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, but are more plentiful in the western part of the State, becoming 

 quite common about Springfield, arriving May 15, and remaining about four 

 months, breeding in high open woods and old orchards. In South Carolina 

 it is abundant as a migrant, though a few remain and breed in the higher 

 lands. ]Mr. Audubon states, also, that a few breed in the higher portions of 

 Louisiana, and Dr. Heermann found them breeding at El Paso, in New Mex- 

 ico. Tliey are tar more abundant, however, in the States of Pennsylvania, 

 New Jersey, A^irginia, and throughout the Mississippi Valley, arriving early 

 in May, and leaving in October. Though occasionally found in the more 

 sparsely settled portions of the country, in orchards and retired gardens, they 

 are, as a rule, inhabitants of the edges of forests. 



Their more common notes are simple and brief, resembling, according to 

 Wilson, the sounds clii-p-cliarr. Mr. Eidgwa}^ represents them by chip-a-ra!- 

 ree. This song it repeats at brief intervals and in a pensive tone, and with 

 a singular faculty of causing it to seem to come from a greater than the real 

 distance. Besides this it also has a more varied and musical chant resem- 

 bling the mellow notes of the Baltimore Oriole. The female also utters simi- 

 lar notes when her nest is approached, and in tlieir mating-season, as they 

 move together through the branches, they both utter a low whispering war- 

 ble in a tone of great sweetness and tenderness. As a whole, this bird may 

 be regarded as a musical performer of very respectable merits. 



The food of this species is chiefly gleaned among the upper branches, and 

 consists of various coleopterous and other insects and their larvae. Later in 

 the season they consume various kinds of wild berries. 



When their nest is approached, the male bird usually keeps at a cautious 

 distance, as if fearful of being seen, but his much less gaudy mate hovers 

 about the intruder in the greatest distress. Wilson relates quite a touching 

 instance of the devotion of the parent of this species to its young. Having 

 taken a young bird from the nest, and carried it to his friend, Mr. Bartram, 

 it was placed in a cage, and suspended near a nest containing young Orioles, 

 in hopes the parents of the latter would feed it, wliicli they did not do. Its 

 cries, however, attracted its own parent, who assiduously attended it and sup- 

 plied it with food for several days, became more and more solicitous for its 

 liberation, and constantly uttered cries of entreaty to its offspring to come 

 out of its prison. At last this was more than Mr. Bartram could endure, and 

 he mounted to the cage, took out the prisoner, and restored it to its parent, 

 who accompanied it in its flight to the woods with notes of great exultation. 



Early in August the male begins to moult, and in the course of a few days, 

 dressed in the greenish livery of the female, he is not distinguishable from 

 her or his young family. In this humble garb they leave us, and do not 

 resume their summer ])lumage until just as they are re-entering our southern 

 borders, when they may be seen in various stages of transformation. 



