422 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



" preet, preet, preet " and occasionally singing in an insect- 

 like trill, " chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy." 



In the summer they are essentially insectivorous, and large 

 numbers of caterpillars, worms, grubs, beetles, flies and other 

 injurious insects of garden and orchard are eaten. In early 

 spring and fall their diet is largely seeds, largely grass and 

 weed seeds, though a considerable amount of insects are eaten 

 at all seasons. 



The nest is almost always placed in bushes, trees, vines and 

 shrubbery about gardens and orchards, along highways and in 

 pastures, but once I found a nest on the ground containing 

 four eggs. I have found nests in the following situations: 

 apple, pear, spruce, fir, maple, cedar, elm, hemlock, hackma- 

 tack, poplar, willow, birch and alder trees and in honeysuckle 

 and woodbines. The general preference with us seems to be a 

 cedar hedge or a roadside hackmatack, spruce or fir tree or an 

 apple tree in the orchard. The height of the nests varies from 

 five to fifteen feet, generally about ten to twelve feet. 



A typical nest taken near Bangor on June 2, 1901, was in 

 a cedar tree twelve feet from the ground. This was composed 

 of very fine grass stems and weed stems, lined with fine rootlets 

 and horsehair. Most nests are lined with horsehair or if these 

 are not available with fine rootlets. The nest described meas- 

 ures two and a quarter inches externally by one and three- 

 quarters internally in height, while the external diameter is 

 three and a half and the internal diameter one and three- 

 fourths inches. The four eggs measure 0.71 x 0.51, 0.76 x 0.51, 

 0.70x0.51, 0.69x0.51. 



The usual number of eggs laid is four, but many sets consist 

 only of three and very rarely five are laid. The color is bluish 

 green, sparsely spotted with cinnamon brown and blackish, 

 chiefly about the larger end where occasionally the markings 

 form a circle. I have seen eggs which were marked only by 

 faint spots or washings of lavender and lilac, these however 

 are exceptional. 



