194 
ICTERUS PREUATORIUS* 
though small parties. These migrating flocks are 
usually observed from daybreak to eight or nine in the 
morning, passing to the north, chattering to each other 
as they fly along,* and, in spite of all our antipathy, 
their well known notes and appearance, after the long 
and dreary solitude of winter, inspire cheerful and 
pleasing ideas of returning spring, warmth, and verdure. 
Selecting their old haunts, every meadow is soon en- 
livened by their presence. They continue in small 
parties to frequent the low borders of creeks, swamps, 
and ponds, till about the middle of April, when they 
separate in pairs to breed ; and, about the last week in 
April or first in May, begin to construct their nest. 
The place chosen for this is generally within the pre- 
cincts of a marsh or swamp, meadow, or other like 
watery situation, — the spot, usually a thicket of alder 
bushes, at the height of six or seven feet from the 
ground ; sometimes in a detached bush, in a meadow of 
high grass ; often in a tussock of rushes or coarse rank 
grass ; and not unfrequently on the ground : in all of 
which situations, I have repeatedly found them. When 
in a bush, they are generally composed outwardly of wet 
rushes, picked from the swamp, and long tough grass in 
large quantity, and well lined with very fine bent. The 
rushes, forming the exterior, are generally extended to 
several of the adjoining twigs, round which they are 
repeatedly and securely twisted ; a precaution abso- 
lutely necessary for its preservation, on account of the 
flexible nature of the bushes in which it is placed. The 
same caution is observed when a tussock is chosen, by 
fastening the tops together, and intertwining the mate- 
rials of which the nest is formed with the stalks of 
rushes around. When placed on the ground, less care 
and fewer materials being- necessary, the nest is much 
simpler and slighter than before. The female lays five 
eggs, of a very pale light blue, marked with faint tinges 
of light purple and long straggling lines and dashes 
of black. It is not uncommon to find several nests in 
the same thicket, within a few feet of each other. 
During the time the female is sitting, and, still more 
