Wilson's thrush, or veery. 351 



ously contending ; one of them used a plaintive and 

 angry tone as he chased his antagonist up and down 

 the tree ; at length, however, a cousin Cat-bird, to which 

 this species has some affinity, stept in betwixt the com- 

 batants, and they soon parted. One of these birds had 

 a nest and mate in the gooseberry bush of a neighbour- 

 ing garden ; the second bird was thus a dissatisfied her- 

 mit, and spent many weeks in the Botanic Garden, 

 where, though at times sad and solitary, yet he constantly 

 amused us with his forlorn song, and seemed at last, as 

 it were, acquainted with those who whistled for him, 

 peeping out of the bushes with a sort of complaisant cu- 

 riosity, and from his almost nocturnal habits became a 

 great persecutor of the assassin Owl, whenever he dared 

 to make his appearance. 



The nest of Wilson's Thrush (commenced about the 

 close of the first week in May) is usually in a low and 

 thorny bush, in the darkest part of the forest, at no great 

 distance from the ground (1 to 3 feet), sometimes indeed 

 on the earth, but raised by a bed of leaves, and greatly 

 resembles that of the Cat-bird. This species seems, 

 indeed, for security artfully to depend on the resemblance 

 of itself and its leafy nest with the bosom of the forest on 

 which it rests, and when approached it sits so close as 

 nearly to admit of being taken up by the hand. The 

 nest sometimes appears without any shelter but shade 

 and association of colors with the place on which it rests. 

 I have seen one placed on a mass of prostrated dead 

 brambles ; on a fallen heap of lilac twigs in a ravine ; and 

 also in a small withered branch of red oak, which had 

 fallen into a bush ; below, it was also bedded with exactly 

 similar leaves, so as easily to deceive the eye. But with 

 all these precautions they appear to lose many eggs and 

 young by squirrels and other animals. The nest is usu- 



