210 
ICTERUS PECORIS. 
ether birds are separated into pairs, and occupied in 
the endearing’ office of providing* a receptacle for tbeir 
offspring, the fringillse are seen feeding in odd as well 
as even numbers, from one to twenty, and discovering 
no more disposition towards perpetuating their species 
than birds of any other species at other seasons, 
excepting a promiscuous concubinage, which pervades 
the whole tribe. When the female separates from the 
company, her departure is not noticed ; no gallant 
partner accompanies her, nor manifests any solicitude 
in her absence ; nor is her return greeted by that 
gratulatory tenderness that so eminently characterizes 
the males of other birds. The male proffers the same 
civilities to any female indiscriminately, and they are 
reciprocated accordingly, without exciting either resent- 
ment or jealousy in any of the party. This want of 
sexual attachment is not inconsistent with the general 
economy of this singular bird ; for, as they are neither 
their own architect, nor nurse of their own young, the 
degree of attachment that governs others would be 
superfluous. 
“ That the fringilla never builds a nest for itself, you 
may assert without the hazard of a refutation. I once 
offered a premium 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 ; corresponding 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. 
