3? LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



Ordinarily nidification commences about the 

 1 8th of May. Both birds work diligently during 

 tlje cooler hours of the morning and evening, 

 until the nest is completed, which is the labor of 

 five or six days. We have known cases where 

 the birds have continued to labor until after dusk, 

 but then on moonlit evenings. 



We have frequently amused ourselves in watch- 

 ing for hours the building process. When a 

 suitable article has been found, the bird does not 

 fly immediately to the nest and adjust the piece, 

 but indulges in short flights from one object to an 

 aojoining one, carefully surveying the premises 

 all the while, until within a. few paces of the nest, 

 when she rapidly flies thither, and having satis- 

 factorily adjusted it, goes off in quest of other 

 materials. 



For building purposes a bush or small tree in 

 close proximity to a stream of water is ordinarily 

 selected. The common alder, spice wood, juniper, 

 and wild Rubus, are most commonly chosen for the 

 site of a nest. We have often observed nests 

 upon bushes close by dwellings, and in places 

 where travel was of common daily occurrence. 



"The usual materials for nests are dried leaves 

 for a base, slender strips of long dark bark, small 

 twigs, herbaceous plants, fine roots, and fine stems. 

 They are lined with fine dry grasses and sedges. 

 The nests average 4 inches in height, by 5 inches 

 in diameter. The diameter and depth of the 

 cavity are 31^ inches." The above description 



