386 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



Ball, about the 2Oth of May; but do not begin to 

 lay before the last of May. Mr. Lockhart pro- 

 cured eggs at Fort Yukon, and Mr. Bischoff at 

 Sitka. Besides the above localities, it has been 

 known to breed as high up as the 69 of north 

 latitude. Coming nearer home it has been dis- 

 covered breeding at Calais, by Mr. Boardman, 

 and at Halifax by Mr. W. G. Wintin, Esq. 



Oviposition commences in Maine about the 

 first of June, and in Labrador about the 2Oth, one 

 brood bein^r reared in a season. When the nest 



o 



is approached, says Mr. MacFarlane, the parents 

 seek to divert attention from it to themselves. 

 They manifest considerable uneasiness and by 

 flying from tree to tree, seek to draw the intruder 

 from the exact location of the nest. 



This species is readily tamed, becoming quite 

 familiar in a few clays, and is easily reconciled to 

 confinement. A friend of Audubon's found a bird 

 of this species which was slightly wounded, near 

 the City of New Orleans, which he placed in a 

 cage with several individuals of Cyanospiza ciris 

 which soon became on the most intimate terms of 

 friendship with his new companions. It sung, but 

 with" less sonorous notes, than when in the enjoy- 

 ment of its freedom. 



The eggs vary somewhat in different localities. 

 Those obtained from Fort Yukon near the mouth 

 of the Porcupine River are, according to Dr. 

 Brewer, rounded-oval, and densely covered with 

 an interminglingof ferruginous and purplish-brown 



