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842 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
Female. — Brown above, the feathers edged or streaked with rufous-brown and 
yellowish; beneath white, streaked with brown; forepart of throat, superciliary, and 
median stripe strongly tinged with brownish-yellow. 
The female differs greatly in appearance; the prevailing color above is brownish- 
black, all the feathers margined with reddish-brown; some of those on the back 
with brownish-yellow, which, on the median and greater wing coverts, forms two 
bands; the under parts are dull-whitish, each feather broadly streaked centrally with 
dark-brown; the chin and throat yellowish, and but little streaked; there is a dis- 
tinct whitish superciliary streak alongside the head, tinged anteriorly with brownish- 
yellow, and another less distinct in the median line of the crown; there is usually 
no indication of any red on the wing; the immature males exhibit every possible 
condition of coloration between that of the old male and of the female. 
Length of male, nine and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, five inches; tail, 
four and fifteen one-hundredths inches. 
This common and well-known species makes its appear- 
ance about the middle of March. It arrives in small flocks, 
the males preceding the females a week or ten days. On 
its arrival, it frequents the meadows and swamps, where, 
from early dawn to twilight, its song of quonk a rée is 
heard, sometimes uttered by a half-dozen birds at a time. 
As soon as the females arrive, the birds mate, and disperse 
through these States, but not so abundantly in the northern 
as in the southern districts. It commences building about 
the first week in May. The nest is usually placed in a 
tussock of grass or low bush in a meadow and swamp: it 
is constructed of coarse grasses, which are woven and 
intwined into a strong fabric, into which are incorporated 
the grass to which it is suspended, or the twigs of the bush 
in which it is built. It is deeply hollowed, and lined with 
fine grasses, and sometimes a few hair-like roots. The eggs 
are four or five in number; and they vary, in color, two or 
three shades of light-blue: they are marked with spots and 
streaks of vandyke-brown and black, generally distributed 
thickest at the greater end. Their dimensions vary from 
1.05 by .75 inch to .90 by .66 inch. Average size about 
.9T by .70 inch. 
Sometimes several pairs breed in the same swamp or 
meadow: they always fly to meet an intruder in their 
naunts, and hover over him, uttering their cries of anger 
