172 
SAXICOLA SIALIS. 
or the hole in the old apple tree, the cradle of some 
generations of his ancestors. <c When he first begins 
his amours,” says a curious and correct observer, “it is 
pleasing to behold his courtship, his solicitude to please 
and to secure the favour of his beloved female. He 
uses the tenderest expressions, sits close by her, caresses 
and sings to her his most endearing warblings. When 
seated together, if he espies an insect delicious to her 
taste, he takes it up, flies with it to her, spreads his 
wing over her, and puts it in her mouth.”* If a rival 
makes his appearance, (for they are ardent in their 
loves,) he quits her in a moment, attacks and pursues 
the intruder as he shifts from place to place, in tones 
that bespeak the jealousy of his affection, conducts him, 
with many reproofs, beyond the extremities of his • 
territory, and returns to warble out his transports of 
triumph beside his beloved mate. The preliminaries 
being thus settled, and the spot fixed on, they begin to 
clean out the old nest, and the rubbish of the former 
year, and to prepare for the reception of their future 
offspring. Soon after this, another sociable little pil- 
grim, ( motacilla dornestico , house wren,) also arrives 
from the south, and, finding such a snug berth pre- 
occupied, shews his spite, by watching a convenient 
opportunity, and, in the absence of the owner, popping 
in and pulling out sticks ; but takes special care to make 
off as fast as possible. 
The female lays five, and sometimes six eggs, of a pale 
blue colour ; and raises two, and sometimes three brood 
in a season ; the male taking the youngest under his 
particular care while the female is again sitting. Their 
principal food are insects, particularly large beetles, and 
other hard-shelled sorts, that lurk among old, dead, and 
decaying trees. Spiders are also a favourite repast with 
them. In the fall, they occasionally regale themselves 
on the berries of the sour gum; and, as winter ap- 
proaches, on those of the red cedar, and on the fruit of 
a rough hairy vine that runs up and cleaves fast to the 
* Letter from Mr William Bartram to the author. 
