372 Dr. Coues on the 



bable ; doubtless even Nuttall, with ear attuned to the feathered 

 orchestra because his heart was in accord with his favourites, 

 could have made nothing of such " sounds inharmonious in them- 

 selves and harsh." The nuptials over, the birds suddenly for- 

 sake the open marshes, where before they roamed at will, and 

 gather in small companies about the thickset bush-clumps that 

 hedge in the reedy waste, to assume more serious parts. Their 

 sociability at this time may result partly from gregarious in- 

 stincts, probably never wholly suppressed, partly from similarity 

 in choice of the comparatively few entirely eligible breeding- 

 places. Thus a dozen or a score of pairs may occupy a thicket 

 only a few rods across; and these, moreover, share proprietor- 

 ship amicably with their friends the Redwings and their familiar 

 acquaintances the Green Herons [Butorides virescens). Such a 

 breeding-place (to select one from the many I have visited) looks 

 from the outside like a solid mass of foliage with never a nest in 

 sight ; but if one creeps inside and looks upward, he has a dif- 

 ferent view. A close canopy of green shuts out the blue one 

 beyond; leafy twigs are matted together and intertwined with 

 a network of vigorous vines ; the Herons have slung their plat- 

 forms, like hammocks, in the midst of the swinging trailers ; 

 while in the forks and crotches of the shrubbery, or in the 

 meshes of the contorted creepers, are placed the nests of both 

 kinds of Blackbirds, sometimes so thickly that half a dozen may 

 be within arm's length. On such an occasion as I attempt to por- 

 tray, the Herons will flap off, in as great haste as their natural 

 indolence allows, in perfect silence or with feeble remonstrance, 

 and perch upon neighbouring outposts, on the watch, stiffly erect, 

 like statuesque caricatures, showing their ungraceful shapes to 

 the least advantage. The impulsive Redwings will betray their 

 emotion, hovering dismayed with anxious cries, or alighting only 

 to take instant wing again. The less passionate, if not less 

 troubled. Boat-tails have already slunk quietly off with scarcely 

 a note to tell their whereabouts ; nor will they return until they 

 think the field is clear. This is especially so with the females : 

 the males may be more solicitous ; but, unlike the Redwings, 

 they generally take care to keep at a safe distance. It is to be 

 feared, indeed, that they are not over-attentive or faithful part- 



