476 
GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 
imitate the slowly lisping trill of the Indigo Bird, whose 
warble indeed, often greatly resembles that of this species. 
The female, before hatching her brood, is but seldom 
seen, and is then scarcely distinguishable from a common 
Sparrow ; nor is she ever to be observed beyond the hum- 
ble bushes and weeds in which she commonly resides. 
The nest of our bird is usually built in a low bush, 
partly concealed by rank grass or grain ; I have also 
seen one suspended in a complicated manner in a trel- 
lised grape-vine in a garden ; and, being left undisturbed, 
it built near the same spot the succeeding year. When 
in a bush, the nest is suspended betwixt two twigs, pass- 
ing up on either side. Externally it is composed of 
coarse sedge-grass, some withered leaves, and lined with 
fine stalks of the same, and the slender hair-like tops of the 
bent-grass (Agrostis), with a very few cow-hairs, though 
sometimes they make a substantial lining of hair. The 
nest which I saw, in the vine, was composed outwardly 
of coarse strips of bass-mat, weeds, and some strings 
picked up in the garden, and lined with horse-hair and a 
few tops of bent-grass. The eggs, about 5, are greenish 
white, and without any spots. (Wilson speaks of a blotch 
of purple at the great end.) The young here scarcely 
leave the nest before the end of July, or the first week in 
August ; and they rais.e probably but a single brood in 
the season. They appear to show great timidity about 
their nest, and often readily forsake it when touched, or 
when an egg is abstracted. Their usual note of alarm, 
when themselves or their young are approached, is a 
sharp tshijp , quickly and anxiously repeated, resembling 
almost the striking of two pebbles. They will not forsake 
their young, however ready they may be to relinquish 
their eggs ; and they have been known to feed their brood 
very faithfully through the bars of a cage in which they 
were confined. 
