216 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



moving through the foliage, gleaning its insect food. Its 

 note is a peculiar one, and easily recognized : it is best 

 described or illustrated by the sound produced by striking 

 two pebbles together with some force. 



About the 20th of June, after the birds have paired, they 

 commence building the nest : this is usually placed on the 

 ground, in a slight depression usually made by the birds 

 themselves. A specimen before me containing three eggs, 

 collected in Maiden, Mass., by Mr. H. A. Purdie, is con- 

 structed of the leaves of the pine, which are very neatly 

 woven into a compact, circular fabric, deeply hollowed, and 

 lined with horsehair and fine leaves of the pine : the eggs 

 are of a white color, with a very faint rosy tint, and covered 

 irregularly with dots of reddish-brown and obscure lilac. 

 Dimensions of the three specimens : .61 by .50 inch, .60 by 

 48 inch, .58 by .48 inch. J. A. Allen, in his " Catalogue 

 of the Birds of Springfield, Mass.," gives the folio wing- 

 exceedingly interesting description of the nest and eggs 

 of this bird : 



" I have found the nest of this species for two successive 

 seasons as follows : May 31, 1862, containing four freshly laid eggs. 

 The nest was placed on the ground, and sunken so that the top of 

 the nest was level with the surface of the ground, and protected 

 and completely concealed above by the dead grass and weeds of 

 the previous year. It was composed of fine rootlets and dry grass, 

 lined with fine, dry grass -and a few horsehairs, and covered 

 exteriorly with a species of fine, green moss. The eggs were 

 white, sprinkled with light reddish-brown specks, most thickly 

 near the larger end. Longer diameter sixty, and the shorter fifty 

 one-hundredths inch. The following year, June 5, 1863, I found 

 another nest of this species, within three or four feet of where 

 the one was discovered the previous year, and containing three 

 eggs of this species, and one of the Cow Bunting, in all of which 

 the embryos were far advanced. The nest, in every particular, 

 was built and arranged like the one above described ; and the eggs 

 must have been laid at just about the same season. In both cases, 

 the female bird was secured, and the identity ascertained beyond 



