72 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
the male, act with less carefulness than in more retired localities. They 
are here more secure from the dejDredations of rapacious birds, the latter 
having a decided aversion to man, their inveterate and merciless foe. 
Building operations are usually begun about the fifteenth of May in 
the latitude of Philadelphia, towards the close of the month in New Eng- 
land, hut never later than the first or second week of June. In its south- 
ern breeding-quarters, following the examples of its more distant relatives, 
it doubtless nests earlier. 
The nest is placed upon the horizontal branch of a fruit-tree, usually 
on the edge of a wmod, but occasionally in an orchard. Sometimes it is 
built over a crotch, wdiich constitutes a more stable position. When a nest 
is located on the outskirts of a thicket, some sjjecies of oak, or the tulip- 
tree, is generally selected as the I’ecipient thereof. In an orchard, the 
apple claims and receives this honor. Its height above the ground is 
mostly from fifteen to twenty feet in sequestered situations, but in culti- 
vated districts, a much lower elevation is chosen. 
The labor of building is performed mainly by the female, her partner 
lending but little assistance. The time devoted to the task seldom exceeds 
a period of four days, and so loosely are the fabrics put together, in the 
majority of cases, that they scarcely survive the season for which they 
Avere intended. 
A structure before us is rather symmetrical and neatly built for the 
species, and quite shalloAv. Externally, it is composed of dried tAvigs, 
AA^eeds and grasses, variously intermingled. Internally, there is a lining of 
fine roots, grass-stems, and the inner bark of the chestnut and oak. The 
outside diameter is five and a half inches, height two inches, diameter of 
cavity three and a half inches, and depth about half an inch. 
Mr. Nuttall describes a nest examined by him as composed of rigid 
stalks of weeds and slender fir-tAvigs joined together with narroAV strips of 
apoeynum and pea-vine runners, and A\mund around Avith thin A\dry stalks 
