OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 339 



nest, and in an additional period of ten days are 

 compelled to feed themselves. They still continue, 

 however, with the parents, thus constituting the 

 small flocks which later in the season display such 

 an appetite for the berries of Juniperus Vir- 

 giniana. 



Their nest is usually built about three feet from 

 the ground, and is composed externally of leaves, 

 mainly, intermingled with grasses, spiders' webs, 

 and the inner bark of deciduous trees. It is lined 

 with fine stems of grasses. The diameter is four 

 and a half inches, and the height about four inches. 

 The cavity at the mouth is three inches wide and 

 two and a half inches deep. The typical nest is 

 firmly and cozily built; occasionally, nests are 

 found which are characterized by a looseness of 

 arrangement and lack of symmetry, which are 

 undoubtedly the work of young birds, or unskilful 

 mechanics. 



A much neater and firmer structure before us, 

 has the inferior third composed of fragments of 

 paper held together by many intertwining strings 

 and rags, and the superior two-thirds built of the 

 inner bark of deciduous trees and a few weeds. 

 Interiorly, there is a thick lining of the leaves 

 and culms of very fine grasses. Another fabric 

 in our collection, is composed almost j: exclu- 

 sively of narrow strips of the bark of Phytolacca 

 decandra, with small scraps of paper, strips of 

 rags, and a few leaves; the rim of the cavity is 

 neatly and- firmly bound around with the leaves 



