NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 73 



equally touclied, wlietlier it was beating iu tlie bosom of 

 an ancient Greek or of a modern American. 



Tlie length of the American bird is seven inches, and 

 its alar extent thirteen. The bill is black ; the upper 

 part of the head, neck, back, rump, and tail coverts steel 

 blue, the colour descending roundly on the breast. The 

 forehead and chin are deep chesnut, and the lining of 

 the wing, belly, and vent, light chesnut. The wings and 

 tail are of a brown or sooty black, glossed with reflections 

 of green. Tail deeply forked, the two external feathers 

 being an inch and a half longer than those next to them, 

 and tapering towards their ends : each feather, with the 

 exception of the two middle ones, are marked on the 

 inner vane mth an oblong white spot. The e3^es are 

 dark hazel, the sides of the mouth of a yellow hue, and 

 the legs dark purple. Such is the plumage of the male. 



The female differs from her mate in having the under 

 parts of a rufous white slightly clouded with a rufous 

 hue, and her external tail feathers are shorter than those 

 of the male. 



They are nearly a week in finishing their nest, which 

 they commence early in May. Wilson describes it as 

 being in the form of an inverted cone, with a perpen- 

 dicular section cut off on that side by which it adheres to 

 the wood. At the top it has an extension of the edge, a 

 sort of offset, for the male or female to sit on occasionally : 

 the upper diameter is about six inches by five, the height 

 externally seven inches. Mud mixed with fine hay, as 

 plasterers mix their mortar with hair to make it adhere 

 the better, and wearing the appearance of having been 

 placed in regular strata or layers from side to side, forms 

 the shell, which is about an inch in thickness. The in- 

 terior of the cone is filled with fine hay well stuffed in, and 

 above the hay lies a handful of very large downy goose 

 feathers. On this soft receptacle repose five eggs, white, 

 specked and spotted all over with reddish brown. A 



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