OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. ir>!) 



When the proper time arrives for relieving his mate, the 

 male repairs to the opening, and by clinging to the side, 

 thrusts his head inward ; then in a low note, signifies his 

 readiness to release her from confinement, for a temporary 

 period. Obedient to his call, the latter comes forth, receives 

 a few caresses, and retires for a brief spell to satisfy the 

 demands of hunger ; quickly returning, however, to exercise 

 a surveillance over the nest and the inmate within. It is 

 not often that the birds feed each other while incubating, but 

 we have occasionally noticed the male engaged in feeding 

 his mate. 



The period of incubation varies from fourteen to fifteen 

 days. The young are objects of more than ordinary paren- 

 tal devotion and solicitude. Their vigorous and ravenous 

 appetites make a constant drain upon the energies and time 

 of their parents. Both birds are seldom absent from home 

 at the same time, usually one stands guard over the nest, 

 while the other forasfes for suitable insect diet. Should the 



c? 



nest be approached with hostile designs, the former exerts 

 herself to the utmost to save it by menacing cries and gestures, 

 until the arrival of the absent one, when their infuriated in- 

 dignation is wreaked upon the head of the daring intruder. 

 Occasionally, these birds are not so venturesome, but submit 

 to assaults without making more than a few faint and ineffec- 

 tual sallies. 



The young, when about two weeks old, climb to the month 

 of the nest, and receive their food. But in a week more, 

 they quit the hole, and betake themselves to the upper 

 branches where they are fed, and where they gambol around 

 the trunk and boughs after tne fashion of children playing 

 hide and seek, in the intervals of feeding. When they are 

 able to use their wings with considerable freedom, they for- 

 sake their parents, and provide for their own sustenance. 

 Usually but one brood is raised, although cases are known 

 to us where a second brood was successfully reared during 



