OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 2M 



deserted nest of the Common Crow. A pigeon-cote is oc- 

 casionally occupied, much to the annoyance of its rightful 

 owners, but who learn to become reconciled to the glaring 

 insult, and live upon the most amicable terms with their 

 courageous neighbors. In the vicinity of Germantown, 

 several of these birds were wont to build in the holes left in 

 unfinished stone buildings after th(* scaffolding was removed. 

 In some instances, the eggs were deposited within a slight 

 depression produced by the removal of the mortar, but in 

 the generality of cases, a thin lining of leaves and grasses 

 served to relieve the roughness of the reposing surfaces. 

 In one instance, a rather dense bedding of mosses which had 

 taken root in the debris which had accidentally accumulated, 

 constituted a soft and coxy lining. The deserted nest of the 

 common Gray Squirrel, and a low flat shelving of rock with 

 an overhanging bluff above, are occasional nesting-places. 

 After a suitable spot is chosen, the female begins to deposit 

 her complement of eggs, to the number of five or seven ; 

 the former being the ordinary number. These eggs are de- 

 posited on successive or alternate days, at the rate of a 

 single egg per day. Incubation immediately succeeds, and 

 is commenced at first by the female, who spends at least two 

 hours upon the nest, when she summons her mate who is 

 close-by, to whom she resigns the laborious task for a simi- 

 lar period. While one is thus occupied, the other when 

 not engaged in providing nourishment, stations himself upon 

 a tree close-by, where he can command every avenue of ap- 

 proach to the nest. When danger is imminent, he apprises 

 his partner in time to secure her escape, and the two en-, 

 deavor by the most determined resistance to protect their 

 treasures from sacrilegious hands ; as long as there is hope, 

 they keep up the warfare, and when constrained to desist by 

 the too near approach of danger, they repair to a tree close- 

 by, and watch with the deepest distress, the rifling of their 

 home. In these attacks, the female is the superior of the 

 male, and often surpasses him in the most reckless bravery. 



