174 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



20th of May to the first week in June. The nest is usually 

 placed in bushes and shrubs, seldom more than four or five 

 feet from the ground ; the location as often in the deep 

 woods as in the fields or pastures. It is constructed first 

 of a layer of twigs and sticks, on which is built the body of 

 the nest, which is composed of strips of grape-vine bark, 

 fine twigs, leaves, and straws : it is deeply hollowed, and 

 lined with fibrous roots and hairs, and sometimes fine grass. 

 The eggs are usually four in number, sometimes five : their 

 color is a bright, deep emerald-green, and their form gener- 

 ally ovate. A great number of specimens before me do not 

 exhibit great variations in measurement from the dimen- 

 sions of a nest complement of four collected in Thornton, 

 N.H. ; they are as follows : .95 by .67 inch ; .95 by .66 

 inch ; .93 by .67 inch ; .93 by M inch. Two broods are 

 reared in the season, seldom three in this latitude. 

 About the middle of October, this species moves in its 



