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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY 



scolding chip and fly into a bush ahead of you, scolding at you as long 

 as you are near their chosen haunts. Later when the nest is completed 

 and the female is setting, the male will perch on the top of a tree and 

 sing as though he were trying to burst his throat, not near the nest, 

 but within hearing distance of the female on it. 



NEST AND EGGS OF LA. 



Photo by J. 

 WATER-THRUSH. 



The last week of April or the first day of May the birds begin the 

 mating, and the woods then seem alive with them, as it is evident that 

 the male who can sing the loudest or longest, is chosen by the female. 

 Their love-making over, their first duty is the finding of a nesting site, 

 which, as in most cases of this kind, seems a most vexing problem. 

 Here is an upturned tree with a nice hollow in the dirt at the roots 

 where some of it has fallen out or where a stone once rested; close 

 beside the stream there is a bank with the sod hanging over form- 

 ing a roof; just beyond this is a bank sparingly covered with grasses 

 and ferns hanging down; under the ferns is a nice hollow that with a 

 little work may be suitable. 



We will suppose they have selected the hollow in the root, after 

 much chirping and many examinations. It may need some slight alter- 

 ations, such as removing the loose dirt or enlarging; this being finished 



