As soon as the domicile is finished, the female, after a day spent in congratulating her lord upon their combined success, proceeds to furnish it. This business continues for many days, varying according to the number of eggs laid, and the irregularity in time of laying, eggs being frequently deposited about the time that others are hatching. Nests are often found with a single fresh egg in each, another partly incubated, a newly-hatched bird, and one or more young still further advanced. But, as a rule, only a single egg is daily deposited. Incubation, in the latitude of Philadelphia, often commences when only two eggs are deposited, but instances are recorded where such was the case after the first extrusion, the female depositing others as the process goes on. This seems like a strange fancy of hers, but evidently shows great forethought and prevision.
The rude house which is built for the accommodation of the eggs, being open and much exposed, and made of seemingly unsuitable materials, fails to provide the necessary protection, and thus is necessitated close and arduous sitting by both birds. The hatching of a few young birds at the time when eggs are being laid, secures the continued warmth necessary for development, and thus materially aids parental exertions. In many instances the eggs are deposited before the incubating process has commenced. The time required for hatching is about fourteen days.
While this business is progressing, the male, when not upon the nest, seldom forsakes his partner, save to provide himself and her with food. Perched upon a small limb close-by, he seems all vigilance, and is in constant readiness to reply to her calls. Feelings of the most devoted affection are mutually exchanged. If the eggs are handled, prior to the assumption of incubation, the birds are apt to desert the nest; but when this has commenced, the female is so attached to her young that she will almost permit herself to be captured rather than leave them. If forced to vacate, we have never known her to precipitate herself upon the ground, and seek, by her fluttering and personation of lameness, to draw the intruder away, as Nuttall affirms, but have always observed her to take a position upon a tree in the immediate vicinity, where she would sit silently and demurely contemplating the purposed desecration. Mr. Newton, in his paper on the habits of the birds of St. Croix Island, testifies to the conjugal affection which is evinced by these birds. On one occasion a male had been killed. The female, attracted by his shriek as he fell to the ground, appeared upon the scene, and showed the most intense anxiety.