OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 57 



in Lynn, Mass., in June, 1858. Dr. Brewer described it as 

 a flat shallow structure, with an imperfectly defined cavity. 

 It was rudely and loosely constructed of fine twigs and ribands 

 of bark of J-uniperus Virginiana, mosses, roots, dry grasses, 

 etc. It had an external diameter of five inches, and a max- 

 ium depth of less than one-half inch. On one occasion, 

 Mr. Charles S. Paine of Randolph, Vt., discovered a nest 

 on the summit of a tall hemlock-tree, which was perfectly 

 inacessible. Dr. Hoy of Racine, Wisconsin, found an aban- 

 doned nest on the horizontal branch of a maple, which was 

 entirely composed of LTsnece. 



In Massachusetts, Mr. Brewster says oviposition seldom 

 takes place earlier than about the i5th of June. The 

 females at this period are exceedingly restless, and vacate 

 their nests when danger seems imminent. On one occasion, 

 the nest was left lon before he had reached it ; the mother- 



o 



bird, perched upon a dead limb, kept uttering all the while 

 a lamentation which resembled the syllables pill-pill-pill, 

 which she ever and anon varied to pu-pu-pu. The males 

 are described as being very ferocious and quarrelsome, and 

 as assaulting indiscriminately every thing that encroaches upon 

 their territory. Even the females do not always escape their 

 indignation, for the same writer asserts that they fight most 

 savagely with them for several seconds. This pugnacity of 

 disposition was noticed to be much stronger during an ad- 

 vanced stage of incubation, than at any other time ; for then, 

 the birds would dart down within a few inches of the head 

 of an intruder, and violently snap their bills in his face. 



The food of this species during its short stay with us, con- 

 sists of coleoptera, diptera, orthoptera, lepidoptera, and 

 hymenoptera. The following insects, belonging to the above 

 orders, constitute its bill of fare: Cratonychus cincreus, 

 C. pertinax, Harpalus compar, H. pciisylvanicus, J y a/<- 

 ,; r /Y.v caliginosus, Ptinus humcralis, RhyncJncnus strobL 

 ^fusca domestica^ J/. lincola, Culcx t&niorhynchus, 

 CEdipoda )iebt{losa, CE. sulphurca, Acheta nigra, Atiisop- 

 8 



