474 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



then to mid September it is common and generally distributed 

 through the State, and occasionally it is found up to October 

 first. These birds may be found almost anywhere in the trees 

 of the city streets, gardens, orchards, along rivers, ponds, 

 lakes, in pastures, thickets, wooded waysides, in fact almost 

 anywhere there are a few trees to afford shelter and they seem 

 to prefer deciduous or mixed growth, not being so numerous 

 in exclusively evergreen woods. 



The characteristic, broken, warbling, arguing, " preaching " 

 of the male bird may be heard from morning to night in spring 

 and summer, much as if it were saying " cheery," a pause, 

 " don't you see," another pause, " don't you know," pause, 

 " its so," pause, " we see," pause, " so do ye," pause, " let it 

 be," and with the help of imagination we can seem to hear 

 these words quite readily as we listen to the leisurely warbling 

 of the male, and I have known them to sing thus all day long. 

 The pauses in the song are made as he hops from branch to 

 branch, peering under this, that or the other leaf, taking a 

 beetle or caterpillar here, another there, and uttering a few 

 notes between mouthfuls. A harsh scolding " wheree " of 

 alarm or anger is often uttered and also a " chip." 



The nest is pensile, built in and below the fork of a limb at 

 heights of four to fifty feet from the ground. The forks of 

 elms, maples, birch, apple and many other hard wood trees and 

 shrubs are utilized and less often nests are built in hemlock 

 and pine forks, but deciduous trees seem to be preferred. The 

 male does not seem to help in building the nest, being too 

 much occupied in singing, but he accompanies the female and 

 is generally around while she is getting nesting material and 

 building. He does however help in the work of incubation 

 and quite often sings while on the nest. In fact I have several 

 times located nests by trying to see the bird while singing and 

 found him on the nest. 



A typical nest was found just begun in the fork of an apple 

 tree in an orchard, four feet from the ground. The nest was 



