250 
SINGING BIRDS. 
he seldom ascends above the tops of the underwood, where he 
dwells, busily employed in collecting the insects on which he 
feeds. After these, like the Wren, he darts into the deepest 
thicket, and threads his devious way through every opening ; 
he searches around the stems, examines beneath the leaves, 
and raising himself on his peculiarly pale and slender legs, 
peeps into each crevice in order to seize by surprise his tiny 
lurking prey. While thus engaged, his affection to his neigh- 
boring mate is not forgotten, and with a simplicity, agreeable 
and characteristic, he twitters forth at short intervals his 
'whifitetee 'whititetce 'whiiiteiee, but his more common song is 
'whitUtshee 'whitittshee, or 'wetitshee wctitshee wee ; and some- 
times I have heard his note like, 'wetitshee ivetitshee, 'wit'yu 
we. On this last syllable a plaintive sinking of the voice ren- 
ders the lively, earnest ditty of the active minstrel peculiarly 
agreeable. Copying apparently from the Cardinal Bird, the 
song was, in one instance, which came to my notice, 'vifiyu 
'vit'iyu 'vUiyii. The whole is likewise often varied and lowered 
into a slender whisper, or tender revery of vocal instinct. 
Sometimes he calls out, teetshoo, teetshoo, and sewaidedit 
sewaidedit se^uautttsewee, or sewaicMit sewaiditsiwee, as he 
busily darts through the blooming and odor-breathing shrubs 
of the grove or garden, which he examines with minute atten- 
tion, and sometimes springs perpendicularly after his retreating 
and discovered prey. He appears by no means shy or sus- 
picious, as long as his nest is unapproached ; but for the safety 
of that precious treasure he scolds, laments, and entreats with 
great anxiety. 
The species generally nest in the recluse thickets of the 
forest, or the low bushy meadow ; but sometimes they take up 
their abode in the garden, or the field contiguous to the house, 
and if undisturbed, show a predilection for the place which 
has afforded security to themselves and their young. They 
commence their labor of building about the middle of May, 
fixing the nest on or near the ground, among dry leaves, 
withered grass, or brush, and choose often for security the most 
intricate thicket of briers, so that the nest is often sheltered 
