BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
107 
accustomed haunts, abandon the epicurean lives which they have been 
leading, come more and more into each other’s society, and, at last, are 
brought to confer together on the important business which has called 
them away from their genial Southern homes. Though carried on in a 
tongue which is a stranger to our own, the object and meaning of the 
conference are not entirely enigmatical to us. The language of gestures 
which accompanies their dark sayings, supplies in a measure the key to 
the mystery, and enables us to judge thereof with tolerable accuracy. 
The conference being over, there is no longer any doubt of the 
motives which inspired it. But before starting on this important mission 
of selecting a home-s] 30 t, the male must needs congratulate his loving mate 
on the success of the interview, and renew his pledges of love and fidelity. 
With dignified carriage and stately tread he parades himself before her, 
uttering all the while, in sad and plaintive tones, which poorly comport 
with his happy, sportive demeanor, his peculiar but unmistakable ah-coo- 
roo-cdo-rdd. These syllables are repeated in raj^id succession, and often 
for three or four minutes at a time. During the intervals of nesting, and 
not unfrequently while oviposition and incubation are going on, the male 
is known to utter the same sounds ; but when the trying duties of parent- 
age demand his attention, he has neither the time nor the inclination to 
indulge in such pastime. 
In the selection of a building-spot, but little discrimination is exer- 
cised. Almost any locality will answer the purpose. Generally an orchard, 
a pine-grove, a grain-field, or a swamp is chosen. With some the position 
seems to be of little moment, as nests are often found upon the tops of 
rail-fences, on stumps, in bushes, in depressions of the ground, as well as 
on trees. AVhen an orchard is selected, the apple is preferred to any 
other fruit-tree. But in the East, the various species of pines outside of 
orchards are in supreme demand. In Texas, the mesquite tree is made 
to do service ; while in California, according to Dr. J. G. Cooper, the 
willow and live oak. On the Plains, however, wdiere there is a scarcity 
of trees, we are told that the nests are placed on the ground, and even, in 
