30 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



use the nests of a past family for a future one. Late 

 builders were observed in the early portion of this month 

 (January) carrying twigs. After sundown those birds not 

 engaged in the night tasks of caring for the young or eggs 

 congregate in bodies of from 10 to 15 close to each other in a 

 tree or shrub convenient to the nests and near the ground. 

 It may be a large fruit tree, a sweetbriar bush, or one of 

 many other vegetable forms. 



With both kinds I find an egg is deposited each day, and 

 the first of the clutch hatches out on the twelfth day of 

 sitting. The young of the two species fly upon the eleventh 

 or twelfth day from hatching, subject to a slight variation 

 in a number of broods. 



Nest. — Saucer-shaped ; twigs externally, with finer 

 grasses within tiiem ; very flimsy or neatly made. Further 

 reference above. 



Eggs — Two or three, sometimes four, to a sitting. The 

 under surface may be light brown, or light green occasion- 

 ally, and all blotched with light or heavy brown. Length, 

 0*8 inch; brtadth, 0*7 inch. 



