

OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 313 



which has not been inaptly compared to the cry of a young 

 bird. 



The food of these birds is mainly vegetal in character. 

 In the winter they subsist upon various seeds which they 

 find in their favorite retreats. The fruits of the different 

 species of Pinits and Querciis, the seeds of Betula 

 excclsa, 13. nigra, and the mast of Fag us ferruginea, are 

 greedily hunted and devoured. In severe winters, the buds 

 of the Mountain Laurel are eaten, and their flesh becomes 

 poisoned. Insects that harbor in the crevices of tree-branch- 

 es, as Cratonychus cincrcus, C. pertinax, and others, are 

 then esteemed great luxuries. Pressed by hunger, they feed 

 upon the bark of trees, and even stray to the roads that 

 wander through their gloomy retreats, and pick at the hard 

 frozen horse-droppings. When spring returns, and the buds 

 begin to swell with the returning sap, they more than make 

 up for their scanty winter fare, and feed sumptuously upon 

 the buds of various kinds of trees, especially those of Betula 

 nigra which impart to their flesh quite an agreeable and 

 peculiar flavor. This fact has acquired for them, in certain 

 localities, the suitable appellation of Birch Partridge. In 

 the summer, they subsist largely upon different kinds of 

 berries. The principal of which are Rubtis trijloris, 

 R. strigosus, R. occidentalism R. villosus, R.Canadensis, 

 Gaylussacia brachycera, G. frondosa, G. resinosa, Vac- 

 chiium stamineum, V. corymbosum, V. Pennsylvania m, 

 and others. 



The love-season commences about the i5th of March, 

 often earlier, when the weather is favorable. It is indica- 

 ted by the drumming noise which the male produces. Stand- 

 ing upon an elevated rock, or a prostrate log, in a secluded 

 portion of the woods, he contracts his neck, expands his 

 tail, depresses his wings, elevates the feather-tufts upon 

 both sides of his neck, and struts about in the most 

 pompous manner conceivable. At the conclusion of these 

 manoeuvres, with rigid wings, he makes short and rapid 

 40 



