CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 559 
BREEDING NoteEs.—~I was pleased to find this truly elegant bird 
breeding in abundance at Pembina in the undergrowth of the 
heavy timber along the banks of the Red river, as I had never 
before enjoyed a good opportunity of studying its habits. It was 
not observed at any other point along the line, though stated to 
pexetrate as far northward as the Saskatchewan region; a fine 
suite of specimens was carefully preserved, and several sets of 
eggs procured; the birds were mating and in full song by the be- 
ginning of June, when I arrived upon the spot, but no nests were 
found until the 21st; four was the largest number found in a nest; 
others contained only two or three, but in all incubation had begun; 
the only nest I took myself was built in a thick grove of saplings, 
about eight feet from the ground; it contained three eggs averaging 
an inch in length by three-fourths in breadth; these were of a pale 
dull green colour, profusely speckled with reddish-brown; the nests 
were rather rude and bulky structures, about six inches across 
outside by four in depth, with the cavity only half as much each 
way, owing to the thickness of the loose walls; they were built 
entirely of the slender tortuous stems and rootlets of some climbing 
shrub, for the most part loosely interlaced, though more firmly, 
evenly, and circularly laid around the brim, and finished sometimes 
with a little horse-hair lining, sometimes without; the male at this 
season has a delightful song; the female is, however, nearly voice- 
less, and of an extremely retiring disposition. (Coues.) 
Nests near Ottawa about ten feet from the ground in trees; the 
nest is built with small twigs or branches loosely put together and 
lined with hair-like roots. One nest with four eggs found on June 
6th, 1895, and another containing three eggs found on May arist, 
1902. (Garneau.) This species breeds ‘commonly about Sharbot 
lake, Frontenac county, Ont., I have seen three nests this month 
near the road in low ground; they build a loose nest of twigs, etc., 
lined with rootlets and fibres, placed eight or ten feet from the 
ground; the eggs were laid the first week in June. (Rev. C. /. 
Young.) The nest of this species taken at Ottawa was built in a 
low bush a few feet from the ground; it was a bulky and rude affair 
built of weed-stems and stout rootlets; it was lined with a little 
horse-hair and some fine rootlets; eggs, three, pale green, speckled 
with reddish brown. (G. R. White.) 
