I I 6 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



Wilson regarded it as a silent bird, which has also 

 been our experience in this latitude. A busy and 

 solitary feeder, it seems to have no time for song. 

 This, however, may not be the case as it nears its 

 breeding-quarters, when it becomes actuated by 

 amatory influences, and pours out the very soul of 

 its being, in a flood of song. It is said to be a 

 varied, pleasing, yet powerful singer. Mr. Trippe 

 characterizes its song as faint and lisping, and 

 made up of four or five syllables. 



We have never expected to find its nest in this 

 latitude, although Mr. Wilson entertained such a 

 hope. Mr. Audubon describes a nest from La- 

 brador. Mr. Lockhart procured a nest and eggs 

 at Fort Yukon, and they have also been taken* in 

 the vicinity of Eastport, and at Grand Menan. 

 They are usually placed within trees, at a slight 

 elevation above the ground; in a few instances, 

 they have been actually built upon the ground. 



According to Mr. Audubon, the nest is com- 

 posed on the outside of green and white moss and 

 lichens, with an intermixture of coarse grasses; 

 and is carefully lined with dark-colored mosses, 

 and a thick layer of soft feathers of the willow- 

 grouse and ducks. Its internal diameter was two, 

 and its depth one and a half inches. It was built 

 in the fork of a small branch, close to the main 

 axis of a species of fir, about four feet from the 

 ground. 



Dr. Br.ewer describes the nest as being "built 

 in 'thick spruce-trees in the midst of foliage so 



