216 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
moving through the foliage, gleaning its insect food. Its 
note is a peculiar one, and easily recognized: it is best 
described or illustrated by the sound produced by striking 
two pebbles together with some force. 
About the 20th of June, after the birds have paired, they 
commence building the nest: this is usually placed on the 
ground, in a slight depression usually made by the birds 
themselves. A specimen before me containing three eggs, 
collected in Malden, Mass., by Mr. H. A. Purdie, is con- 
structed of the leaves of the pine, which are very neatly 
woven into a compact, circular fabric, deeply hollowed, and 
lined with horsehair and fine leaves of the pine: the eggs 
are of a white color, with a very faint rosy tint, and covered 
irregularly with dots of reddish-brown and obscure lilac. 
Dimensions of the three specimens: .61 by .50 inch, .60 by 
48 inch, .58 by .48 inch. J. A. Allen, in his “ Catalogue 
of the Birds of Springfield, Mass.,” gives the following 
exceedingly interesting description of the nest and eggs 
of this bird: — 
“JT have found the nest of this species for two successive 
seasons as follows: May 31, 1862, containing four freshly laid eggs. 
The nest was placed on the ground, and sunken so that the top of 
the nest was level with the surface of the ground, and protected 
and completely concealed above by the dead grass and weeds of 
the previous year. It was composed of fine rootlets and dry grass, 
lined with fine, dry grass and a few horsehairs, and covered 
exteriorly with a species of fine, green moss. The eggs were 
white, sprinkled with light reddish-brown specks, most thickly 
near the larger end. Longer diameter sixty, and the shorter fifty 
one-hundredths inch. The following year, June 5, 1863, I found 
another nest of this species, within three or four feet of where 
the one was discovered the previous year, and containing three 
eggs of this species, and one of the Cow Bunting, in all of which 
the embryos were far advanced. The nest, in every particular, 
was built and arranged like the one above described; and the eggs 
must have been laid at just about the same season. In both cases, 
the female bird was secured, and the identity ascertained beyond 
he lel Oi ee A 
