CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 529 



Breeding Notes. — I was pleased to find this truly elegant bird 

 breeding in abundance at Pembina in the undergrowth of the 

 heavy timber along the banks of the Red River, as I had never 

 before enjoyed a good opportunity of studying its habits. It was 

 not observed at any other point along the line, though stated to 

 penetrate as far northward as the Saskatchewan region ; a fine 

 suite of specimens was carefully preserved, and several sets of 

 eggs procured ; the birds were mating and in full song by the 

 beginning of June, when I arrived upon the spot, but no nests 

 were found until the 21st; four was the largest number found in a 

 nest; others contained only two or three, but in all incubation had 

 begun; the only nest I took myself was built in a thick grove of 

 saplings, about eight feet from the ground ; it contained three 

 eggs averaging an inch in length by three-fourths in breadth; these 

 .were of a pale dull green colour, profusely speckled with reddish- 

 brown; the nests were rather rude and bulky structures, about six 

 inches across outside by four in depth, wi'th the cavity only half 

 as much each way, owing to the thickness of the loose walls ; 

 they were built entirely of the slender tortuous stems and rootlets 

 of some climbing shrub, for the most part loosely interlaced, 

 though more firmly, evenly, and circularly laid around the brim, 

 and finished sometimes with a little horse-hair lining, sometimes 

 without; the male at this season has a delightful song; the female 

 is, however, nearly voiceless, and of an extremely retiring dis- 

 position. {Coues.) 



Nests near Ottawa about ten feet from the ground in trees; 

 the nest is built with small twigs or branches loosely put together 

 and lined with hair-like roots. One nest with four eggs found on 

 June 6th, 1895, andlanother containing three eggs found on May 

 31st, 1902. {Gameau.) This species breeds commonly about 

 Sharbot Lake, Frontenac Co., Ont., I have seen three nests this 

 month near the road in low ground ; they build a loose nest of 

 t^vigs, &c., lined with rootlets and fibres placed eight or ten feet 

 from the ground; the eggs were laid the first week in June. {Rev. 

 C.J. Young.) The nest of this species taken at Ottawa was built 

 in a low bush a few feet from the ground; it was a bulky and rude 

 affair built of weed-stems and stout rootlets; it was lined with a 

 little horse-hair and some fine rootlets; eggs, three, pale green, 

 speckled with reddish brown. {G. R. White.) 



