OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. ;ttl 



polygamous, and sometimes associates with several females. 

 In such cases, the most perfect harmony prevails. This 

 promiscuous intercourse upon the part of the male, does 

 not lead to unhappy consequences, even when practised 

 whilst mated to a single female. This rather anomalous social 

 condition prevails more largely in some localities than in 

 others. It necessarily results from a scarcity of males." 

 When a pair has established itself in a locality from the 

 lirst, and has been successful in rearing a family of young, 

 during the ensuing spring, if the females are in the major- 

 ity, the unprovided ones still continue, as a general thing, 

 to linger with the parents, after their more specially favored 

 companions have mated and moved elsewhere. This is par- 

 ticularly noticeable in a new locality", where the covey con- 

 sists entirely of members of a single family. In cases where 

 several families congregate in the fall, the chances are 

 greatly in favor of monogamy. Small flocks are more 

 decidedly polygamous than larger ones. We have never 

 observed the converse ; that is more than one male to a 

 female. But where several pairs are found in the same field, 

 at slight distances from each other, there is sometimes a 

 noticeable tendency to associate. In these associations, pro- 

 miscuous intercourse is mutually indulged in. without the 

 manifestation of the slightest excitement or indignation. It 

 seems that the same pair mate on each returning season, 

 from which we would naturally conclude that a certain de- 

 gree of affection subsists between the sexes. Their lives, 

 however, are untainted by the least suspicion of jealousy. 



After the separation of the sexes, no time is lost in idle 

 play. Their chief concern seems to be the establishment of 

 a suitable home. For this purpose, both birds make a care- 

 ful survey of their territory, and elect a suitable building lo- 

 cality. The female is apparently more interested than her 

 partner, and evidently has her own way. The site selected 

 is either a thick dewberry patch with a dense undergrowth 

 of long, closely-matted grasses, or a low meadow-land with 

 41 



