298 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
with hanging wings and elevated tail, uttering only at 
times a feeble song of tsee tsee tsee , scarcely louder than 
the squeak of a mouse. It arrives in the state of Perm- 
sylvania from the south about the middle of April, and 
hardly passes to the north of the states of New York 
and Ohio. Its first visits are paid to the blooming wil- 
lows, along the borders of water courses, and, besides 
other small insects, it now preys on the troublesome 
musquetoes. About the beginning of May it forms its 
nest, which is usually fixed among twigs, at the height 
of 10, or sometimes even 50 feet from the ground, 
near the summit of a forest tree. It is formed of slight 
materials, such as the scales of buds, stems and parts of 
fallen leaves, withered blossoms, fern* down, and the silky 
fibres of various plants, lined with a few horse-hairs, 
and coated externally with lichens. In this frail nest, the 
Cow Troopial sometimes deposits her egg, and leaves 
her offspring to the care of these affectionate and pigmy 
nurses. In this case, as with the Cuckoo in the nest of 
the Yellow Wren and that of the Red-tailed Warbler, the 
egg is probably conveyed by the parent, and placed in 
this small and slender cradle, which would not be able to 
sustain the weight or receive the body of the intruder. 
The eggs of this species, 4 or 5, are white, with a few 
reddish dots towards the larger end. They are said to 
raise two broods in the season. 
This species leaves the Middle States for the south to- 
wards the close of September, wintering in tropical 
America, where they have been observed in Cayenne. 
Early in March, it arrives in Louisiana, Florida, and 
Georgia from its tropical winter-quarters, but none pass 
that season within the boundaries of the Union. 
* Of the Osmunda cinnamomea , &c. 
