BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
65 
says the same happy writer, “His continued trilling note is to the warbling 
band of morning musicians which may be heard before sunrise during 
May and June like the octave flute as heard in a grand concert of arti- 
flcial instruments.” 
The singing of the males is the inauguration of a new era in bird- 
life. The search for food no longer engrosses the attention as of yore, but 
the all-absorbing passion of love. The sexes cease their solitary wander- 
ings. The females, moved by the touching appeals of the males, leave 
their native haunts, and join their masculine companions. All is now a 
scene of bustle and activity. The wooer and the wooed meet and lavish 
upon each other the most endearing attentions. Happiness reigns supreme. 
But the acme of felicity has not yet been reached. This is brought about 
by degrees, and is only perfectly attained when conjugal relationship is 
assumed. 
In some parts of the country this important business is entered into 
as early as the fifteenth of May, but in others it is necessarily deferred 
until the succeeding month. The event is unattended by any peculiar 
demonstrations of joy, and is mostly celebrated in a matter-of-fact, business- 
like way ; the happy couple proceeding at once to an exploration of the 
surrounding scenery for a suitable place in which to build a home. This 
is a matter of little moment, as almost any small tree or low bush is 
available for the j)urpose. The nest is never j^laced on the ground, even 
in Arctic regions, where so many of our tree-builders vary from this 
custom to nidificate on the ground. In the vicinity of houses, small trees, 
shrubbery and vines are utilized ; but in jiasture grounds, and on the bor- 
ders of small thickets, the common red-cedar is chosen. Having selected 
a suitable site, both birds apply themselves to the task of building for a 
period of four or five days, when a neat and rather cosy structure is the 
result. Considerable variation is discernible in the architecture of difterent 
individuals. Some nests are rudely constructed, and rather loose and 
tenuous. Others have much of periphery, but little of thickness and 
internal dejfih. 
