_ 
322 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
upper tail coverts, both with obsolete dark streaks; there is a whitish maxillary 
stripe, bordered above and below by one of dark rufous-brown, with a similar one 
from behind the eye; the under parts are white; the breast and sides of body and 
throat streaked with dark-rufous, with a still darker central line; on the middle of 
the breast, these marks are rather aggregated so as to form a spot; no distinct white 
on tail or wings. 
Specimens vary somewhat in having the streaks across the breast more or less 
sparse; the spot more or less distinct. In autumn, the colors are more blended, the 
light maxillary stripe tinged with yellowish, the edges of the dusky streaks suffused 
with brownish-rufous. 
The young bird has the upper parts paler, the streaks more distinct, the lines on 
the head scarcely appreciable. The under parts are yellowish; the streaks narrower 
and more sharply defined dark-brown. 
Length of male, six and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, two and fifty-eight 
one-hundredths; tail, three inches. 
Hab. —Fastern United States to the high central plains. 
This beautiful songster is one of the most common and 
well-known of our summer visitors. It arrives from about 
the first week in March to the middle of that month. On 
its first appearance, it prefers the low thickets and bushy 
woods, where, at all hours of the day, it chants its beautiful 
song. It is somewhat gregarious at this time, and is 
usually found in flocks of half a dozen individuals. It soon 
commences mating; and, after a short season of courtship, 
both birds begin building their first nest. This is about the 
middle of April, sometimes earlier; and I have found the 
nest with eggs when there was an inch or two of snow on 
the ground. The nest is usually built on the ground, some- 
times in a low bush, and occasionally in low trees: it is 
constructed of stalks and leaves, of grasses and weeds, and 
is lined with softer grasses and fine weeds. The eggs are 
four or five in number, and they are subject to great varia- 
tions in form and markings: they exhibit all the changes 
from grayish to bluish-white, with spots, thinly scattered, 
of reddish-brown, to confluent blotches of umber-brown, 
thickest at the greater end. Their dimensions vary from 
.94 by .64 to .78 by .62 inch. Four eggs in one nest 
measure .94 by .64, .84 by .66, .80 by .58, .78 by .62. 
inch. Two broods, and sometimes three, are reared in the 
season. 
