142 
N£STS AND EGGS OF 
visit. The nest is generally placed on the ground, at the foot of a bush 
or tussock, in the midst of small birches or alders, or on a decayed stump 
or prostrate log. In some localities it is snugly nestled in the midst of a 
meadow. It is not an elaborate alfair by any means, but merely consists 
of a few dried leaves or grasses which are scratched together by the female 
— the work of a few hours at the most. 
The domicile being ready for occupancy, the female soon commences 
to deposit her beautiful treasures. One by one they are laid on consecutive 
days, until her complement of three or four is reached. In the Southern 
States, oviposition commences in March or February, while in the northern 
limits of the range of this species, from the tenth to the fifteenth of April ; 
seldom later. Incubation is mutual, and so attentive are the birds to the 
task, that it is an unasual occurrence to find them both absent therefrom 
at the same time. When the female is sitting, her j^artner imj)roves the 
time by attending to the demands which hunger makes upon him. The 
same is true of the female when she has resigned her charge to the care 
of her noble and conscientious lord. So faithfully do they keep to the 
nest, that nothing but the most menacing danger will compel them to 
quit it. The approach of a team, or of a pedestrian, within a foot of it, 
has not been known to startle them. But when the danger is quite immi- 
nent, the sitting-bird slip)s out of it, and makes its way into the tall 
grasses, at some distance therefrom, and becomes a silent and sorrowful 
witness of the disaster to be accomplished. Should no destruction be per- 
petrated, and the intruder has gone his way, it cautiously comes out of 
its hiding-place, and resumes labors. But it has learned a lesson by 
this experience. For on a second visit to the same spot, no bird is to be 
found. Apprised of approaching danger, it has slipped out of the nest in 
time to escape detection. Thus jiatiently, persistently, and seemingly un- 
weariedly, these faithful beings, by turns, apply themselves to the task, 
until success has crowned their wdlling labors. The time spent in hatch- 
ing, under the most favorable circumstances, varies from seventeen to 
eighteen days. 
