CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 529 
BREEDING Notes.—I was pleased to find this truly elegant bird 
breeding in abundance at Pembina in the undergrowth of the 
heavy timber along the banks of the Red River, as I had never 
before enjoyed a good opportunity of studying its habits. It was 
not observed at any other point along the line, though stated to 
penetrate as far northward as the Saskatchewan region; a fine 
suite of specimens was carefully preserved, and several sets of 
eggs procured ; the birds were mating and in full song by the 
beginning of June, when I arrived upon the spot, but no nests 
were found until the 21st; four was the largest number found ina 
nest; others contained only two or three, butin all incubation had 
begun; the only nest I took myself was built in a thick grove of 
saplings, about eight feet from the ground; it contained three 
eggs averaging an inch in length by three-fourths in breadth; these 
were of a pale dull green colour, profusely speckled with reddish- 
brown; the nests were rather rude and bulky structures, about six 
inches across outside by four in depth, with the cavity only half 
as much each way, owing to the thickness of the loose walls ; 
they were built entirely of the slender tortuous stems and rootlets 
of some climbing shrub, for the most part loosely interlaced, 
though more firmly, evenly, and circularly laid around the brim, 
and finished sometimes with a little horse-hair lining, sometimes 
without; the male at this season has a delightful song; the female 
is, however, nearly voiceless, and of an extremely retiring dis- 
position. ( Cowes.) 
Nests near Ottawa about ten feet from the ground in trees; 
the nest is built with small twigs or branches loosely put together 
and lined with hair-like roots. One nest with four eggs found on 
June 6th, 1895, and{another containing three eggs found on May 
31st, 1902. (Garneau.) This species breeis commonly about 
Sharbot Lake, Frontenac Co., Ont., I have seen three nests this 
month near the road in low ground; they build a loose nest of 
twigs, &c., lined with rootlets and fibres placed eight or ten feet 
from the ground; the eggs were laid the first week in June. (Rev. 
C.J. Young.) The nest of this species taken at Ottawa was built 
in a low bush a few feet from the ground; it was a bulky and rude 
affair built of weed-stems and stout rootlets; it was lined with a 
little horse-hair and sgme fine rootlets; eggs, three, pale green, 
speckled with reddish brown. (G. R. White.) 
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