OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 225 



sometimes earlier when the season is favorable. It has not 

 been our privilege to meet with the nest in Eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania, but circumstances lead us to believe that a few remain 

 to breed in retired swamps, instead of journeying north- 

 ward. We are confirmed in this belief by having met the 

 sexes throughout the entire summer in the same locality, 

 engaged in the procurement of food, which they carried to 

 a considerable distance, beyond our ability to follow them 

 with the eye. The not uncommon habit of these birds 

 to dispose of their food on the spot where taken, being 

 known to us, there certainly could have been no other in- 

 ference drawn from the facts. From those w r ho have wit- 

 nessed the nest, and also from our own observations in the 

 southern portions of New Jersey where these birds nest 

 more frequently than in Eastern Pennsylvania, we glean the 

 following particulars. 



The nest is often placed in a clump of bushes, in a rather 

 retired situation, close to the borders of a stream or a pond. 

 But the most common situation is in the midst of a swamp 

 or a low meadow, where there is a dense growth of vegeta- 

 tion. It is composed, externally, of small sticks for a ground- 

 work, on which is placed a superstructure of dried grasses, 

 rather neatly arranged in a somewhat circular manner; 

 within, there is sometimes placed a lining of feathers, but, 

 in most instances, these objects are an unnoticeable feature. 

 The site of the nest is sometimes the centre of a large tus- 

 sock of grasses. It is built of a few dried grasses scraped 

 together indiscriminately, on which the eggs are deposited. 

 The enveloping grasses help to subserve the purposes of a nest. 

 When a structure is built, most generally a slight concavity 

 of the soil is chosen for its reception, the birds sometimes 

 applying themselves to its formation, where it does not 

 exist naturally. The diameter of a nest usually measures 

 from twelve to fourteen inches, and the height, from four to 

 five. The cavity is exceedingly slight, and scarcely con- 

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