392 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



held in sihi by others in close proximity. It is 

 bulky and irregular in shape, and has no claims 

 to architectural beauty. It is coarsely but firmly 

 built of twigs, dry plants, interwoven with strong 

 stems of grasses, which have been picked up 

 from pools of mud with considerable of the latter 

 adherent thereto, which renders them exceedingly 

 weighty and serves to agglutinate the elements 

 more compactly together. Internally, there are 

 a few fine leaves of grasses which add to the 

 comfort of the fabric. They measure seven inches 

 in diameter and about six in thickness, with the 

 diameter at the rim about four inches, and the 

 cavity about two inches, which is very shallow 

 considering the size of the birds. 



The young are objects of more than ordinary 

 solicitude by the parents, which vie with each other 

 in parental devotion. They are fed alternately; 

 both parents occasionally being absent from the 

 nest in the procurement of food which consists of 

 grubs, caterpillars, earthworms, and berries, many 

 of which have been enumerated above. When 

 both parents are absent, it is only when a number 

 of pairs have built in close proximity to each other, 

 constituting an orderly and harmonious community 

 which we have noticed to be the case only in 

 certain localities. The young are then, to a 

 certain extent, under the surveillance of others, 

 which are not slow to repel any assault upon their 

 neighbor's household. Upon a lawn adjoining 

 the mansion of Mrs. George Carpenter, in Ger- 



