<;* LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



>ia . The fruits of Fragaria \ irginictna^ Rubus villosns, 

 Primus serotina* Gayiussacia froiidosa* G. resinosa^ \ ac- 

 cininni staiii/ciini: and in the autumn, ^fnnipcrns \ irgitii- 

 ana and I^onicera periclyniai /////. 



About the middle of May, the males cease their solitary 

 Wanderings, grow amorous, and begin to seek their mates. 

 The period of courtship is of short duration, seldom lasting 

 more than two or three days. At the expiration of this time- 

 both birds set out together in quest of a suitable nesting- 

 place ; this is not chosen at random, but is apparently the 

 result of deliberate consideration. Several days are frequent- 

 ly spent in making a tour of the surrounding country, when 

 every available spot seems to be examined with a business-like 

 intention. At times, the locality is apparently selected with- 

 out any preliminary examination. As birds commonly 

 resort to accustomed situations, on their successive returns. 

 when unmolested, except in cases where a change of situa- 

 tion seems both necessary and obligatory by reason of un- 

 friendly and dangerous surroundings, the preliminaries of 

 place-hunting are not unnecessarily dispensed with. 



In this latitude, the tree selected is either a cedar or a 

 maple. In sequestered places, mostly the former, and in 

 less quiet retreats, the latter. The nest is the result of the 

 joint labor of both birds. It is never saddled upon a limb 

 like that of Contopus virens. nor is it pensile like that of a 

 / ireo ; but is placed between a forked branch, and firmly 

 secured thereto by r a peculiar arrangement of the composing 

 materials. 



In West Chester, Pennyslvania, Mr. Thomas H.Jackson 

 says the nests are built upon a drooping branch of a beech 

 or dog-wood, at elevations varying from six to ten feet above 

 the ground. They are usually composed of fine strips of 

 bark or weed-stalks, woven together with little regard to 

 neatness and durability, and so loose and tenuous in the bot- 

 tom, that their contents mav be readily discerned from be- 



