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136 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
of May, and is most frequently observed in low growths of . 
oak and chestnut: it seems. always busily employed in 
catching winged insects, of which its food almost entirely 
consists; these it seizes in the manner of the King-bird, 
which bird it resembles in both its habits and disposition 
I have sometimes seen two birds of this species engaged in 
a fight, which, for fierceness, I have hardly seen surpassed. 
They would rush together in mid-air, snapping their bills, 
beating with their wings, and pecking each other, until they 
both descended to the trees beneath, actually exhausted with 
their exertions. 
Mr. Verrill says that it breeds quite common near the 
Umbagog Lakes, Me.; but I have never .been able to find its 
nest there or elsewhere, although I have looked for it with 
great care. 
It has been found breeding in Vermont ; and Dr. Thomp- 
son, in his work on the birds of that State, gives a descrip- 
tion of the nest and eggs. Three nests have been found in 
Massachusetts within two years; two in West Roxbury, and 
one in Dorchester. These were all built in forked twigs 
of apple-trees, in old neglected orchards, facing to the 
southward, and were constructed of the same material that 
the King-bird uses in its nest. In fact, they were almost 
exactly like the King-bird’s nest, but were a little smaller. 
Two of the nests had three eggs each, and the other had 
but two. They were all found in the first week in June, 
and the eggs were freshly laid: probably, if they had been 
unmolested, more eggs would have been deposited. Three 
of these eggs are in my cabinet. To compare them with 
the eggs of any other bird, I should say they seem like 
exceedingly large Wood Pewee’s: for they are almost exactly 
like them in shape, color, and markings; being of a creamy- 
white, with large blotches and spatters of lilac, lavender, 
and brownish-red. Their dimensions are .88 by .68; .88 
by .66; .86 by .68 inch. 
Mr. Nuttall, who found a nest in Cambridge, Mass., 
