^16 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



the male is frequently found breeding while still clad in the sober 

 garb of the young bird, it is probable that it does not don the 

 brilliant colours of the adult state until the second moult. They 

 are quite indiscriminate in their choice of food, swallowing with 

 equal relish all kinds of seeds and insects which they can manage. 

 The nestlings, however, are fed altogether on soft insects. None 

 of them remain in this neighbourhood after the middle of Sep- 

 tember, and, indeed, by the end of August; all except stragglers 

 are gone. They frequent clumps of bushes and weed beds upon 

 the prairie, and the brushwood along the edge of the timber, and 

 wooded creeks, but are never found in the deep bottom lands. 

 The only Qgg of a cowbird which I obtained was deposited in a 

 nest of this species before any of those of the rightful owner were 

 laid ; upon which a new nest was immediately built within a few 

 feet of the former one, and five eggs safely hatched out. These 

 birds and Vireo belli have their nests destroyed by prowling 

 animals more often than the ground-breeding species, whence it 

 may be inferred that sight is used more than scent in the pur- 

 suit, the position of these nests being very conspicuous to any 

 animal passing beneath them. ' 



Spiza AMERICANA (Gmel.) Black-throated Bunting. — An 

 abundant summer visitor to the open districts, arriving about the 

 middle of April and leaving early in September. They frequent 

 the low-lying parts of the prairie, especially where stunted* bushes 

 are scattered about, and farms on which bad cultivation allows large 

 areas to become overgrown with weeds. From the time of their 

 first arrival up to the end of June, their monotonous song may be 

 heard every hour of the day, poured forth from the top of a bush, 

 weed, or fence, with most untiring diligence, even when the heat 

 of the midday sun has silenced all other songsters. They bring 

 forth two broods in a season, laying four or five eggs in each 

 clutch, the first being ready for incubation by the middle of 

 May. The nests are built either on a low bush or weed, never 

 more than four feet from the ground, or on the ground beneath 

 a tuft of grass on the prairie, the bases being formed of withered 

 leaves, on which is raised a superstructure of dry grass and weeds 

 firmly interlaced, the whole being warmly lined with fine roots. 

 As soon as the second brood is able to fly, they band together in 

 large flocks, resorting to the beds of sunflowers and bloodweeds, 



