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132 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
five one-hundredths; tail, four and ten one-hundredths; tarsus, eighty-five one- 
hundredths. 
Hab. — Eastern North America to the Missouri, and south to Eastern Texas (not 
yet observed further west). 
This species is a rare summer inhabitant of New England. 
It arrives from the South about the 10th of May in the lati- 
tude of Massachusetts, — that is, so far as so irregular a 
visitor may be said to arrive,—and spreads throughout 
these States. It is less rare in the southern districts than 
in the middle, and hardly penetrates as far north as the 
latitude of the middle of Maine. It has been ascertained 
to breed in all these States; and two nests, with their con- 
tents, are before me. One of these was found in a hollow 
tree in Plymouth, Mass., on the 10th of June; the other 
was found in Middleton, Mass., on the 4th of June. These 
nests are composed of straws, leaves, feathers, and the cast- 
off skins of snakes; and it seems a distinguishing character- 
istic of the nests of this species to have the skins of one or 
more snakes woven into the other materials. The first 
of these nests had five eggs ; the other, three. These are of 
a beautiful creamy-buff, and covered with irregular scratches 
and lines of different shades of purple. Wilson says of these 
egos, “The female lays four eggs of a dull cream-color, 
thickly scratched with purple lines of various tints, as if 
done with a pen.” Dimensions of eggs vary from .95 by .78 
inches to 1 by .80 inch. 
As this species is quite rare in these States, I have had 
but very few chances for observing its habits. It appears 
to be equally courageous and quarrelsome with the King- 
bird, and has many of the peculiarities of that bird. — Its 
food consists of insects, which it captures while on the wing, 
after the manner of the other species. When the young 
leave the nest, they feed on berries and caterpillars, and are 
fond of crickets and grasshoppers. By the middle of Sep- 
tember, the whole family leave for the South. 
