186 
COW BUNTING. 
“ That the Fringilla never builds a nest for itself you may 
“ assert without the hazard of a refutation. I once offered a pre- 
“ mium for the nest, and the negroes in the neighbourhood 
“ brought me a variety of nests, but they were always traced 
to some other bird. The time of depositing their eggs is from 
“ the middle of April to the last of May, or nearly so; corres- 
“ ponding with the season of laying observed by the small birds, 
“ on whose property it encroaches. It never deposits but one 
(( egg in the same nest, and this is generally after the rightful 
“ tenant begins to deposit hers, but never I believe after she has 
‘‘ commenced the process of incubation. It is impossible to say 
“ how many they lay in a season, unless they could be watched 
“ when confined in an aviary. 
“ By a minute attention to a number of these birds when they 
“ feed in a particular field in the laying season, the deportment 
“ of the female, when the time of laying draws near, becomes 
“ particularly interesting. She deserts her associates, assumes 
“ a drooping sickly aspect, and perches upon some eminence 
“ where she can reconnoitre the operations of other birds in the 
“ process of nidification. If a discovery suitable to her purpose 
“ cannot be made from her stand, she becomes more restless, 
“ and is seen flitting from tree to tree, till a place of deposit can 
“ be found. I once had an opportunity of witnessing a scene of 
“ this sort which I cannot forbear to relate. Seeing a female 
‘ ‘ prying into a bunch of bushes in search of a nest, I determined 
“ to see the result, if practicable; and knowing how easily they 
‘ ‘ are disconcerted by the near approach of man, I mounted my 
“ horse, and proceeded slowly, sometimes seeing and sometimes 
‘‘ losing sight of her, till I had travelled nearly two miles along 
“ the margin of a creek. She entered every thick place, prying 
“ with the strictest scrutiny into places where the small birds 
“ usually build, and at last darted suddenly into a thick copse 
“ of alders and briars, where she remained five or six minutes, 
“ when she returned, soaring above the underwood, andreturn- 
“ ed to the company she had left feeding in the field. Upon en- 
“ tering the covert I found the nest of a Yellow-throat, with an 
