20 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
stands guard over tlie nest, or acts tlie part of a dutiful and affectionate 
husband, by providing her with the necessary food. Should their home 
be disturbed by feathered assailants, or by man, the female leaves the 
nest, and by loud cries and menacing gestures, seeks, with the assistance of 
her partner, to drive off the intruders. Often the attack is carried on with 
a boldness and determination that challenge admiration. 
The love for offspring is very intense, and manifests itself in un- 
wearied devotion, and the tenderest solicitude. From early morn until 
dusk, one parent or the other is constantly on the go for approj^riate 
articles of faye. Usually but one is absent at a time on this important 
business. But the demands for food are so pressing, that both are some- 
times compelled to leave home, but only for a short time, and then never 
beyond seeing distance of the nest. At first the young are fed upon 
smooth caterpillars, aphides, spiders, ants, butterflies, and dipterous insects ; 
but as they mature, small beetles and other hard-shelled articulates are 
added to their varied and extensive menu. At the age of fifteen days, 
they quit the nest, receive instructions in serial navigation under the tutor- 
age of the paternal head, and in ten days more, are j^repared to shift for 
themselves. 
One peculiarity of this sjiecies must have struck the attention of every 
careful observer of its habits ; that is, its remarkable sociability. Audubon 
cites a case where no less than nine jjairs were found breeding in the 
same enclosure. We have knoAvn instances where as many as five nests, 
all occupied, were crowded in the same orchard, within a short distance 
of each other. The most perfect good feeling and harmony prevailed in 
this little colony, the birds mingling together with the freedom and ease 
of inhabitants of the best regulated human communities. 
The eggs are oblong-oval in form, j)ointed at one extremity, and 
marked with pale j>urple blotches and a few deep dark purplish-brown 
dashes ui^on a light bluish-white background. Specimens from Washington 
measure .85 by .62 of an inch; from New Mexico, .79 by .54; and from 
Pennsylvania, .88 by .58. 
