I HO 



iiiijtii mull' iimiicroiis (lining (he liircdiii^j season in 

 Ihinlv scKh'd and wooded districts. The nests in tliis 

 localitv, according to my experience, are mostly built 

 in low trees, and they are made up almost entirely of 

 small twigs. 



THE NEST AND EGGS. 



I have taken two nests, both built in low cedar trees; 

 these nests were entirely constructed of small twigs, 

 and were loosely, but firmly made. The cavity of one 

 nest was quite superficial, but that of the other was 

 well formed. The eggs — each nest contained five — 

 are deposited about the first of May. They are nearly 

 spherical, white or bluish- white, marked with large 

 and irregular splashes or. blotches of brown, and meas- 

 ure about 1.4G by 1.10 inches. Gentry, a close ob- 

 server and facile writer, remarks in his "Life Histories 

 of Birds," that the "eggs, iji some instances, are laid 

 on consecutive daj's, but we have positive proofs that 

 sometimes a single day is intermitted, and at other 

 times, even two and three days intervene betAveen each 

 deposit." In one of my nests I found two days to in- 

 tervene after the deposition of each of three eggs, and 

 the fifth ovum w\as deposited after an intervention of 

 three days. Gentry has found them breeding in the 

 deserted nest of the common grey squirrel. Mr. J. 

 Hoopes Matlack, of West Chester, informs uie he 

 found a pair breeding in an old crow's nest; such sites, 

 however, Gentry advises us, are rarely chosen. It is 

 said this species will sometimes build on a ledge 

 of rock or on hollow and decaying tree linil)s. One 

 nest, whicli I had the oi>portunity of observing from' 

 its early commencement, was built by (he united labor 

 of both birds, whicli occupied a period of seven days. 

 Gentrv. who doubtless, has had a more extensive ex- 



