246 
N£STS AND EGGS OF 
After the completion of the nest, which ordinarily requires the united 
efforts of hoth birds for six days to accomplish, the female, on the follow- 
ing day, begins to deposit her eggs. These to the number of five are laid 
at the rate of one a day. Incubation commences on the day subsequent 
to the last deposit, and lasts for ten days. This duty devolves exclusively 
upon the female. The only part which the male performs is the indirect 
one of providing his companion with suitable nourishment. When not 
thus engaged he cheers the tedium of her task by an agreeable ditty. By 
some writers he is considered more of a dandy than a family man, as he 
spends the greater portion of his time with his fellows in the pursuit of 
food, in the arrangement of his toilet, or in the pleasures of the bath. 
Our experience is different. While he takes no direct part in the incu- 
bating process, his affection for his mate, and his constant desire to please 
her, prove him to be, in every sense, a model companion. When their 
home is assailed, he does not sneak away, and allow his partner to bear 
the brunt of the battle to be waged in ics defence, but comes boldly to the 
front, and with loud clamors, angry gesticulations, and wide open jaws, 
unites with her to expel the intruder. Where frequent interferences occur, 
the birds are often forced to forsake their nest, and seek other quarters. 
This perhaps -will account for the fact that nests with eggs are sometimes 
found as late as the fifteenth of July, and others with young birds during 
the last week of August. Such delays are doubtless of common occurrence. 
The destruction of a nest while incubation is progressing, most gene- 
rally leads to the renewal of the attempt in some other jDlace. The desire 
for offspring will often be found to triumph over the most insuperable 
difficulties. We have known instances where the same pair had been 
thwarted four times in succession, and as often renewed the attempt. An 
unfortunate male or female may sometimes be doomed to lead the life of 
a celibate, by reason of the scarcity of individuals of the opposite sex. 
Perhaps an event has occurred which has altered the status of affairs. A 
male has died, and his partner is compelled to break up house-keeping, or 
seek another. If she does the latter, her companion may be a widower, 
