NORTHERN VARIED THRUSH 99 



have even found three-storied nests. The old nests are flattened and dilapidated 

 by the heavy August rains and winter snows, with the mud mostly dissolved out 

 of them. During the winter a tour of the woods discloses hundreds of old thrushes' 

 nests in various states of preservation, and in some sections nearly every tree 

 harbors one or more. Where well-protected in dense spruces they may survive 

 many years. Probably the same pair of birds return to a single nesting site for 

 several successive seasons. * * * All the nests of the Varied Thrush observed 

 were in spruces, and varied in height above the ground from 6 to 20 feet, the 

 latter being far above the average height, which I should judge to be 10 feet. 

 Even in the tallest timber the nesting sites are chosen in the lower foliage at a 

 similar elevation. * * * The majority of the nests are situated on the south 

 side of the tree-trunks, as probably being the driest and warmest side, and then, 

 too, strong, cold north winds are of frequent occurrence. All the nests which I 

 examined are very much alike in composition and structure. The foundation is 

 a rather loose and bulky mass of plant stems and dry grasses, but the nest proper 

 is a solid, closely-felted structure. The bottom and sides are substantially formed 

 of a mixture of mud, and wet, partly-decomposed grasses and moss. The amount 

 of mud varies in different nests, and in some there is scarcely any, but the various 

 vegetable materials are always incorporated when wet, so that after the structure 

 dries, the walls and rim are very firm like papier-mach6. When finished the nest 

 presents a neatly-moulded cup-shaped cavity, with an inner lining of fine dry 

 grasses. The measurements of a typical nest are as follows: Inside diameter, 

 3.25; depth, 2.25. Outside diameter, 6.50; depth, 4.50. The weights of the dry 

 nests vary from one-half to one pound, depending on the amount of mud in their 

 composition. 



Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) reports a nest found by Dall at Nulato, 

 Alaska, on May 22, 1867, that "was built in the midst of a large heap 

 of rubbish in a group of willows, about 2 feet above the ground, and 

 close to the river bank," a most unusual location! 



From near the southern limit of its range in the interior, Thomas D. 

 Burleigh (1923) reports a late nest, found on August 7, in Bonner 

 County, Idaho; it was "fifteen feet from the ground and twenty feet 

 out at the outer end of a limb of a large hemlock at the side of a swift 

 roaring stream in a deep wooded ravine." 



Along the shores of the lower Yukon River, during the first few days 

 of July, Herbert Brandt (1943) found a number of nests of the northern 

 varied thrush "in an upright crotch in a small tree, and from three to 

 eight feet above the ground. The bird generally chooses an aspen or a 

 willow but we found one nest in a small spruce tree"; some of the nests 

 were still under construction and some held eggs or young. 



Eggs. — Apparently the northern varied thrush lays larger sets of 

 eggs than the Pacific coast race. In the 11 sets collected by Dr. 

 Grinnell (1900), there were two sets of three, seven sets of four, and two 

 sets of five eggs each. His description of the eggs tallies well with the 

 eggs of the other race, but "the eggs of one set show larger blotchy 

 markings of raw umber. One egg is almost without markings, thus 

 resembling a robin's." 



