THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 167 



with the worm. I went to the side of a large stub, and while I 

 was watching, saw this male assume the erect singing position, 

 throw forward his head and try to sing, still holding the worm 

 in his mouth. This song may be written thus : ch-ch-che-che-che-a 

 (the a long drawn out). He sang a number of times at intervals 

 of about sixty seconds — ^but still held the worm. He soon spied 

 me and seemed rather uneasy, wagging his tail after the fashion 

 of Dendroica palmarum. Now the song seemed to take an anxious 

 or scolding tone and sounded like cha, che-chee wicha-a-a. 

 After watching me a few minutes he dropped from the tree (on 

 a long glide) to the east about three rods. I suspected he was 

 going to the nest, so I hurried to the spot, but when I reached 

 it he was not there ; so I stood still and waited. In a few min- 

 utes he was at his place on the old tree with another worm. 

 Again he sang and wagged his tail and then dove down, but this 

 time two rods to the west of the tree. I started to go there, 

 when just south of the tree I flushed the female from the ground 

 and after a close look, saw the nest. It may be imagined with 

 what delight I beheld the first nest of this rare bird ever seen, 

 and with what eagerness I dropped to my knees beside it to make 

 a closer examination of its contents. There were two young 

 birds, perhaps ten days old, and a perfect egg ; this proved to be 

 the only tgg found. 



"This egg was a delicate pinkish- white (since the contents 

 were removed it has faded to a dull white) thinly sprinkled with 

 several shades of brown spots forming a sort of wreath at the 

 larger end. This egg is .72X.56 inches or 18 by 14 mm., and 

 contained no embryo. The nest was built in a depression in the 

 ground, at the foot of a jack pine about five feet tall, and was 

 only -five feet from the road. It was partly covered with low 

 blueberries and sweetfern plants. The nest is two inches inside 

 diameter and the same in depth, very neat and compact, and is 

 composed of strips of soft bark and some vegetable fiber, thickly 

 lined with fine dead grass and pine needles. A few hairs from 

 horses' mane or tail complete the lining. 



"As I sat near the nest the female came and alighted on the 

 bratich of the jack pine just back of the nest. She was not at 

 all shy. Once she came with a worm in her mouth, but would 

 not feed the young while I was near. The male also came, but 

 not so close. Both birds were very restless and uneasy — only 

 a few seconds in a place — which made it very difficult to take 

 photographs of them." 



