OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 5)1 



foua and Coiiocephalus ensiger^ are greedily eaten, besides 

 a greater number less arboreal by nature, which would lead 

 r.s to infer quite wisely that in feeding a portion of its time 

 is spent upon the ground. It might be supposed that such 

 food as is of a nearly terrestrial character would be obtained 

 during the day, since these birds spend a no very inconsider- 

 able part of their time upon the ground. We have very good 

 reasons for thinking otherwise. Our inability to discover 

 them feeding during the day. with our admirable facilities 

 for studying their habits even in the minutest details, and 

 their incapacity to attend to this essential business by reason 

 of structural complications, convince us that feeding is sel- 

 dom, if ever, attended to during the daytime. The mainly 

 terrestrial orthoptera which contribute to their sustenance 

 are CEdipoda sulphur ea^ G. nebulosa^Caloptenus feninr- 

 rnbrn))i* and Acheta iiigra. Among lepidopterous insects, 

 vast numbers of Aiiisopteryx "cernata, Zerene catenaria^ 

 Pen th iiia pouwjicUa* Anisota rubicunda, Halesidota tcs- 

 sellata, ffybernia tiliaria, Orgya leucostigma^ and main 

 of the commoner kinds of the Noctnidce. 



About the i^th of May. the birds begin to nidificate. The 

 merest apology of a nest is all that is constructed. By the 

 side of a fallen and decayed log. usually where the deepest 

 shadow is found, the female has been observed to deposit 

 her eggs. A slight concavity is scooped out of the ground 

 by her, and frequently lined with rotten chips, which are 

 often reduced to a powdered condition. The site is evidently 

 chosen where there is a ready supply of these apparently es- 

 sential materials. Everything being in readiness, the female 

 begins to lay her complement of eggs, which, from the 

 smallness of the number, is deposited in two days ; being at 

 the rate of one egg per day. Incubation immediately en- 

 sues, and continues from fourteen to fifteen days : it is the 

 sole labor of the female. While she is thus occupied, tile 

 male is nowhere to be seen : although it is possible that he 

 is at no great distance, quietly do/ing the hours of daylight 



