OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 313 



cadence. It can be quite accurately expressed by 

 pec-dee-dee-dee-dee-dec-dee. When interrupted by 

 the presence of human intruders, it ceases imme- 

 diately, and only resumes its ditty when the inter- 

 ference has vanished. While thus engaged it 

 perches upon the extremity of a branch of a small 

 tree, or the summit of a low bush, and pours forth 

 its melodies at graduated intervals. 



This species does not breed in Eastern Penn- 

 sylvania, as its presence is never observed after 

 the middle of May. After the breeding-period is 

 over it returns during the last of September or 

 the beginning of October, and confines itself to 

 waste fields and the borders of forests, where it 

 congregates in small flocks until ready to assume 

 its southern journey. Though tolerably abundant 

 at this season, yet a few remain to spend the 

 winter, and are chiefly found in low grounds where 

 there is a dense growth of coniferous trees which 

 afford the requisite shelter. 



In Labrador, according to Mr. Audubon, this 

 bird is abundant and quite a late breeder. He 

 /ecords finding a nest as late as July 6, which was 

 placed among the moss at the base of a low fir, 

 and was composed of matted bunches of dry 

 hypnum mosses, externally; and, internally, of fine 

 grasses neatly arranged to a thickness of one-half 

 inch, and lined with the yellow fibrous roots of 

 Coptis trifolia. It was five inches in diameter and 

 two in depth, with a cavity two and a quarter 

 inches wide and one and three-quarters in depth. 



