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PERCHING BIRDS. 
ending abruptly in a sound like the breaking of glass.” In confinement the parson- 
bird readily reproduces the cries of other species. It feeds upon ripe berries, flies, 
and other insects, and the honey of certain wild blossoms; it builds its nest in the 
fork of a bushy shrub, generally only a few feet from the ground; it is a large 
structure, composed chiefty of sprays or dried twigs, intermixed with coarse moss, 
and lined with fine grasses. The eggs are generally white, finely spotted with red 
or brown. The parson-bird builds twice in the year, the first nest being found in 
August. The newly-hatched bird is almost entirely bare, but the feathers soon 
appear, and the growth of the nestling is rapid. The adult male has the general 
plumage shining metallic green, with bluish purple reflections on the shoulders, 
rump, and upper tail-coverts ; the middle of the back and the scapulars are bronze- 
followed by a note of great sweetness like the touch on the high stop of an organ. 
. . . One of its finest notes is a clear silvery toll followed by a pause, and then 
another toll; the performance lasting sometimes an hour or more. This is generally 
heard at the close of the day, or just before the bird betakes itself to roost for the 
night. I have, however, on one or two occasions heard a sweet tui toll long after 
the shadows of darkness had settled down upon the forests, and all other sounds 
were hushed. At other times it may be heard uttering a sweet warbling note, 
followed by a sneeze, after that a pause, then a sharp cry of tu-whit, tu-whit, ooo, 
a pause again, and then its warbling note with variations, very soft and liquid, but 
POE HONEY-EATER, OR PARSON-BIRD. 
