THE YELLOW-BIRD. 289 
remains through the year. Notwithstanding its being here 
through the early spring, it does not begin to build before 
the middle of June. The earliest nest that I ever heard of 
was found June the 10th, and very few are found as early 
as the middle of that month. The nest is usually placed in 
a forked branch in an apple-tree in the orchard, sometimes 
in a maple or birch tree near the roadside. It is constructed 
of soft strips of the cedar and grape-vine bark: these are 
very neatly woven together into a compact structure, which 
is deeply hollowed, and lined with soft down from the 
thistle, and sometimes a few feathers. The eggs are 
usually four in number: their form is generally oval, 
and their color a bluish-white. Dimensions vary from .68 
by .53 inch to .62 by .50 inch. But one brood is reared in 
the summer. 
The habits of this bird are so well known that I will not 
give them an extended notice here. It seems to be a per- 
sistently gregarious species: for, even in the breeding 
season, several families are usually found in one neighbor- 
hood; and the males often assemble together, and pass the 
time in collecting food, trimming their feathers, and bath- 
ing. In fact, this bird seems to be more of a dandy, and 
consequently less of a family man, than most of our other 
species ; and I have noticed that he leaves the greater part 
of the burden of the family cares upon the shoulders of his 
attentive mate. 
When the season of incubation has passed, the birds 
assemble in flocks of from ten to twenty or thirty in num- 
ber, and frequent the gardens and stubble-fields, where they 
subsist upon the seeds of various weeds and grasses. They 
have a short note like che wéee, which is uttered often, 
sometimes in a drawling, plaintive key, and at other times 
in a brisk, cheerful tone. Their flight is undulating and 
irregular, and resembles very much that of the Wood- 
peckers. When on the wing, they have a short, simple 
chatter, like ’che ’ché ’che ’che, uttered rapidly, and with 
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