214 General Notes. ^J^"^ 



persecuted the other that I had to remove her to a separate cage. About 

 this time, or a little earlier, I noted a decided brightening of the beaks of 

 both sexes, and the birds became very noisy, though I noticed no attempt 

 at a song on the male's part. 



It was the middle of June before I removed the birds to an outside avi- 

 ary, and they very soon began to build, though slowly at first, the male 

 leading in the work; the foundation of twigs was finished by June 25, 

 and the walls begun. They used a good deal of excelsior, and the rootlets 

 from an old Catbird's nest. The female took charge of the lining, using 

 dried grass in preference to hair. By the 38th the nest was finished, and 

 on July I the first egg was laid, the set of four eggs being completed on 

 the 4th. The eggs were laid in the early morning, and the male roosted 

 at night close beside the nest. I removed the set on the 7th, as I was 

 leaving for a two weeks' absence, and could not attend to the young if 

 hatched. From the beginning of the nest building the maie increased 

 his attention to the female, putting freshly shelled sunflower seed in her 

 beak and feeding lier at every opportunity ; if she were sitting the food 

 was carried to her. Before the egg laying both birds were noisy, uttering 

 their rather harsh note incessantly, but as the female becatae absorbed in 

 caring for the eggs she joined less in the outcry, and the male too became 

 quieter, though both birds joined in protesting if any unusual object 

 became visible from the cage. They were not greatly disturbed by my 

 entering the cage to feed them, though at first the female always left the 

 nest. 



The male in his efforts to fix the female's attention assumed a curious 

 posture, very closely resembling that of a j'oung bird when fed. He 

 began by alighting a little below her, preferably on the ground, throwing 

 his head back and uttering a low, rather harsh call, as a nestling does 

 when expecting food; his wings were partly spread and fluttered very 

 rapidly till the black primaries became an outline, causing the snow white 

 of the secondaries to stand out with vividness; otherwise the bird was 

 motionless, with the tail partly' spread. 



About the i6th of July three eggs of a second set were noticed in the 

 nest; one had disappeared before my return, and on the 30lh, one of the 

 two remaining eggs hatched. The young birds' nakedness was empha- 

 sized in contrast with the pure white down patches, particularly that on 

 the head. The second e.^^ did not hatch, and I removed it. I was from 

 the first considerably handicapped in the matter of food; the old birds, 

 as the breeding season commenced, gradually changed their food. Sun- 

 flower, their favorite seed, was neglected, and the}' ate a small amount of 

 lettuce and chickweed, a good many strawberries, a little grated carrot and 

 what insects I could get for them; they refused mockingbird food but ate 

 the yolk of hard-boiled eggs. Meal-worms I was unable to get in any 

 number, but earthworms were plentiful and the birds ate them in quan- 

 tity. The male kept a sharp lookout for any insect that wandei-ed into 

 the cage; ants' eggs were also eaten. I had to use care in gathering 



