iiiiicli iiioic iiuiiu'ions (iiiiiii"^ Lhe bri-i-diug season in 

 thinly setUed and wooiled districts. Tlie nests in tills 

 locality, according to my experience, are mostly built 

 in hnv trees, and they are made nj) almost entirely of 

 small Iwi^s;. 



THE NEST AND EGGS. 



I have taken two nests, both built in low cedar trees; 

 these nests were entirely constructed of small twigs, 

 and were loosely, but firmly made. The cavity of one 

 nest was quite superficial, but that of the other was 

 well formed. The eggs — each nest contained five — 

 are deposited about the first of May. They are nearly 

 spherical, w-hite or bluish-white, marked with large 

 and irregular splashes or blotches of brown, and meas- 

 ure about 1.46 by 1.10 inches. Gentry, a close ob- 

 server and facile writer, remarks in his "Life Histories 

 of Birds," that the "eggs, io some instances, are laid 

 on consecutive days, but we have positive proofs that 

 sometimes a single day is intermitted, and at other 

 times, even two and three days intervene between each 

 deposit." In one of my nests I found two days to in- 

 tervene after the deposition of each of three eggs, and 

 the fifth ovum was deposited after an intervention of 

 three days. Gentry has found them breeding in the 

 deserted nest of the common grey squirrel. Mr. .1. 

 Hoopes Matlack, of West Chester, informs un- lie 

 found a pair breeding in an old crow's nest; such sites, 

 however. Gentry advises us. are rarely chosen. It is 

 said this species will sometimes build on a ledge 

 of rock or on hollow and decaying tree limbs. One 

 nest, which I had the opportunity of observing fronr 

 its early commencement, was built by the united labor 

 of both birds, which occupied a period of seven days. 

 Gentrv. wlio doubtless, has had a more extensive ex- 



