344 LIFE- HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



which is reared a superstructure of coarse weeds 

 and grasses. The lining is made of soft meadow 

 grasses. In size it equals the nest of Turdus mi- 

 gratorius. 



Besides lowlands, its most usual places of build- 

 ing, we have known instances where uplands have 

 been chosen for this essential purpose. From 

 four to five eggs are deposited in a nest, at the 

 rate of one per diem. Oviposition follows the day 

 after the nest is completed. On the day subse- 

 quent to depositing the last egg, sometimes on the 

 identical day, the female begins the trying duty 0f 

 incubation which devolves exclusively upon her. 

 While she is thus occupied, the male exercises a 

 close watch over her, and provides her with neces- 

 sary food. The period of incubation is about 

 fourteen days. When with young, both parents 

 are unusually 'attentive and vigilant. On the 

 approach of human beings, the male endeavors by 

 a little stratagem of his own to divert the intruder 

 from the real situation of his nest, by assuming an 

 air of distress which is rendered more genuine by 

 a kind of mournful click, which he utters with 

 astonishing rapidity. Two broods are reared in 

 a season. In about fifteen days after being 

 hatched, the young are able to leave the nest; and 

 in eleven or twelve days more, are prepared to feed 

 themselves; but they continue with the parents 

 long after they are able to shift for themselves. 

 Their food consists of the larval Phalcenidce men- 

 tioned above, Lumbricus terrestris, plant-lice, dip- 



