BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
275 
legs hanging down, all the while uttering the most unmeaning rhapsodies, 
but soon descends as he rose, by repeated jerks. 
But when the young are hatched, he ceases these vocal performances 
and odd gestures, and unites with his mate to render homage and obeisance 
to the new comers. From early morning until sunset they are busy scour- 
ing the fields and woods for insects, both parents never being absent at 
the same time on this business. Larvse of various kinds, smaller lepidop- 
tera, and straw- and blackberries are in much demand, and hunted with 
great perseverance and industry. With age comes an increase in the 
quantity and quality of their food. In thirteen days from the time of 
hatching we find them ready to leave the nest, and a week later, they are 
old enough to care for themselves. 
The breeding season being over, both young and old spend the time 
until their departure in September, in thick brier-bushes, and within close 
hedges, occasionally, however, forsaking such places for cultivated grounds. 
Now the song of the male can be heard at midnight, and so fond does he 
seem of this sort of diversion, that he frequently continues singing until 
daybreak. The early de23arture of the Chat is not due to the paucity of 
a 2 Dproj)riate food-stuffs, but chiefly to its susceptibility to cold. 
No attem 2 )ts, as far as we have been able to ascertain, have ever been 
made to rear these birds from the nest. Their beauty of 23lumage, if they 
had nothing else to commend them, would doubtless compensate for the 
lack of sweetness in their voices. While they might signally fail in their 
efforts to charm us with rich, mellifluous notes, they could, at any rate, 
amuse us by the variety, volubility and strangeness of their utterances. A 
friend of Wilson’s, an amateur in Canary birds, once 2 ‘daced an egg of this 
species under a Canary. In course of time the bird made its ap23earance, 
but died on the second day, notwithstanding the best of care and attention 
which it received, for the hen Canary was so solicitous to nourish the 
stranger, that her own eggs, which required a somewhat longer period of 
incubation, were lost in consequence. This being the case, it is not 230ssi- 
