56 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



straighten up her crest, and utter her simple call of pn-fm , 

 with slight variations. The male is said t< possess in addi- 

 tion to tliis call, a brief song, whose language may be ex- 

 pressed by fh-phe-bee. In the latitude of Philadelphia, this 

 song is never heard, and is doubtless only essayed during 

 the courting-period. 



The nest of the pair to which allusion has just been 

 made, according to Mr. Nuttall, was built upon a hori- 

 zontal branch of a tall cedar ( % J irghiiana} * at an eleva- 

 tion of fifty feet from the ground. Exteriorly, it was 

 made of the dead twigs of ^f mil perns I irg'iniana * curi- 

 ously interlaced. Interiorly, there was a lining of dry 

 grasses, wiry stems, and fragmentary lichens. This nest 

 contained a brood of three voung birds, w r hich were fed 

 on beetles and other insects for the space of twenty-three 

 days, w-hen they were sufficiently matured to quit the nest, 

 being able to fly as well as their parents. The male-bird 

 was exceedingly vigilant, and would often follow Mr. 

 Xuttall half a mile. They were in no wise timid, and would 

 permit the closest investigation of themselves and premises, 

 without betraying the least evidence of alarm. 



In 1832, the same pair apparently, began to nest in a small 

 juniper, close by the tree they had occupied the previous 

 year. This nest was placed about fifteen feet high. The 

 birds being frustrated in their endeavors to raise a family, 

 through accident, commenced another nest, in a cedar close 

 by. The following year their presence was missed in 

 that locality. 



Mr. William Brewster. a resident of Cambridge, asserts 

 that this species is still abundant in the neighborhood in 

 which it was first noticed by Nuttall. Several nests have 

 been met with by him, which, with a single exception, were 

 placed near the extremity of a horizontal branch of a pitch- 

 pine. The exceptional domicile was built on a branch of 

 the apple-tree. 



Mr. George O. Welch discovered a nest of this species 



