186 
NESTS AND EGGS OE 
Loraiiie County, Ohio, a nest of five eggs, all of which were pure lustrous 
white, like those of a Woodpecker. Similar instances have come to our 
knowledge since the above was recorded. In the work of incubation, the 
male occasionally relieves his partner, but when not thus engaged, he is 
very attentive, and often cheers the monotony of her task by a soft, 
agreeable warble. He is also now very jealous. Not a bird is permitted 
to trespass uj50n his premises. If sur]3rised upon the nest, the female 
makes no effort to escape as long as untouched ; but waits until you have 
withdrawn to a safe distance before flying from the hole. When hatched, 
the young are watched over with the greatest care, and fed alternately by 
each parent. Their food consists of flies, earthworms, young of beetles, 
moths, butterflies, etc. When able to shift for themselves, they are en- 
trusted to the care of the male, while the female busies herself in preparing 
for the second brood. The old nest is renovated and refurnished, and she 
again sits, depending upon her affectionate and trustful mate for the sup- 
port of both herself and the brood which, as it sometimes happens, are 
not fairly out of the way when the second family of young are ushered 
into existence. As many as three broods are occasionally raised, when the 
season has been long and favorable. 
Young males of the year are easily distinguished. They are dull 
brown on the head and back, and have the lesser coverts streaked with 
white. The throat and fore part of the breast are marked with similar 
stripes, while the rest of the coloration, with the exception of the brownish 
edges of the tertial wing-feathers, is somewhat similar to that of the adult. 
The entire upper parts, including tail and wings, of the latter, are of a 
continuous and azure-blue color. The cheeks are of the same hue, but 
duller. The under parts, the abdomen, anal region (and under tail-coverts, 
which are white, excluded), are reddish-brown. The bill and feet are black, 
and the same may be said of the shafts of the quills and tail-feathers. 
From her partner, the female differs in being less blue, and in having a 
brownish cast upon the head and back. In size, they hardly vary. Their 
length is six and three-fourths inches, wing four, tail two and nine-tenths. 
