1 8 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



than the 1 2th of May and continues about thirteen 

 days. Its duties devolve exclusively upon the 

 female ; the male like a devoted husband mean- 

 while attends with marked assiduity to her neces- 

 sities. Both parents assist by turns in supplying 

 the young with food. 



Earthworms, the larvae of Cratonychus cinereus, 

 Lac hno sterna quercina, Anisopteryx vernata, Eu- 

 fitchia rib e aria, Clisiocampa Americana or Tent- 

 caterpillar, Colias philodice, Pieris rapce, Musca 

 domes tica, Tabanus lineola, Tabanus cinctus or 

 Banded-horse-fly, Scatophago furcata, Stomoxys 

 calcitrans, Ctdex t&niorhynchus, and other dip- 

 terous forms ; small moths and beetles when such 

 food is adapted to their age and condition, besides 

 the berries of Primus cerasus, P. serotina, Fragaria 

 Virginiana, and the various species of Rubiis. 



The parent-birds manifest considerable solici- 

 tude for their progeny. When the nest is assailed 

 both birds labor vigorously by their clamor and 

 threatening attitudes to excite fear into the assail- 

 ant. The young are carefully nourished by their 

 parents which vie with each other in rendering 

 every needful attention. 



But a single brood is reared in a season. Nests 

 with eggs have been taken by us as late as the 

 1 5th of July; but these were doubtless the labor 

 of birds whose early efforts had been frustrated. 

 Their departure for Central America, the home of 

 their winter diversions, is apparently regulated by 

 the abundance or scarcity of food-stuffs. We 



