Natural History of Quiscalus major. 373 



ners ; for while their mates are incubating, they may commonly 

 be seen feeding- by themselves in the marsh ; and it is doubtful 

 whether they either bring food home or take their turn about at 

 the nest. In fact, they seem to have forgotten the lively interest 

 they felt in domestic concerns while their throats were swollen 

 with an epithalamium. 



The nest of the Boat-tail is a strong, substantia], and rather 

 bulky fabric, but neither tasteful nor elegant, seeming as if built 

 solely for use, without thought of the ornamentation that many 

 more aesthetic birds take delight in bestowing upon their home. 

 It is composed chiefly of interlaced twigs and intertwined grasses, 

 rushes, or strips of fibrous bark or roots, with a few dried leaves 

 for filling or lining ; none of the many I have examined con- 

 tained any hair, moss, or mud. The thickness and irregularity 

 of the walls make the structure look unusually large, as com- 

 pared with its internal diuiensions; the special contour is 

 chiefly determined by the site. When a nest is hung in a lace- 

 ment of vines, it is looser and more irregular than when saddled 

 upon a fork. The cup is usually rather deeper than broad, and 

 has a well-defined brim, the materials being there more closely 

 interwoven. 



With these birds the laying-season is at its height during the 

 latter part of April and beginning of May; this is the best 

 time for taking the eggs, as most of the nests have received their 

 complement, and incubation is only just begun. I have found 

 in no instance more than six or fewer than three eggs in a 

 nest; five and six are the usual numbers. They measure 1*25 

 in. by about "8, being thus rather narrowly elongate ; the smaller 

 end is obtuse. They are not " whitish, spotted with dark 

 brown," as Bonaparte and Nuttall state. The ground-colour is 

 pale dull bluish-green, usually somewhat clouded with dull pale 

 purplish, this tint being most noticeable where the markings, to 

 be presently described, are thickest, and having an appearance 

 of being washed out of the latter. The markings are curiously 

 — even fantastically — distributed over the whole surface, but are 

 commonly most numerous at or towards the larger end. These 

 are of two kinds : one is a set of sharply-defined splashes, spots 

 and dots ; the other consists of fine-drawn irregularly waved or 



