320 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



they vary greatly in size to fit the cavity occupied; the material used 

 may amount to merely a few handfuls or less, aDd rarely none at all 

 is used; the material is often only carelessly thrown into the cavity, 

 so that it looks like a wind-blown mass of rubbish that had lodged 

 in a depression; and the long tail or apron straggling out below adds 

 to the delusion. 



J. K. Jensen (1923) reports a nest in which no nesting material was 

 used: "It was in a clay bank beside the road in the Santa Fe Canyon. 

 The bird had evidently scratched the little pocket out in which the 

 eggs were deposited. The four eggs were resting on the bare ground, 

 and there was not even a suggestion of nest building." 



Eggs. — Townsend's solitaire lays three to five eggs, most commonly 

 four and only rarely five. They are usually ovate but sometimes 

 short-ovate or elongate-ovate, and very rarely slightly pointed. They 

 are only slightly glossy. The eggs are entirely different from the 

 eggs of other North American thrushes and are often very beautiful. 

 The ground color is usually dull white, but sometimes a very pale 

 light blue or bluish white, or more rarely greenish white or yellowish 

 white, and very rarely with a shade of pinkish white. They are more 

 or less evenly covered with small spots or very small blotches or 

 scrawls of various shades of brown, reddish brown, yellowish brown, 

 or darker browns, together with underlying spots or blotches of 

 "ecru-drab" or "lavender-gray." The markings are sometimes 

 concentrated at the larger end, or consolidated into a ring of spots. 



Two published descriptions are worth quoting. The eggs sent to 

 J. W. Preston, of Baxter, Iowa, are described by Mr. Anthony (1903) 

 as follows: "The ground color of the eggs is faint greenish-blue, 

 blotched and marked with pale chestnut and lavender. Some of the 

 spots are large, and a number of irregular markings resembling written 

 characters appear, well scattered over the surface, but heavier about 

 the larger end. Two of the eggs are less heavily marked, the specks 

 and spots being smaller. These eggs appear somewhat elongate." 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1908) says of the eggs taken in the San Ber- 

 nardino Mountains: 



The four sets of eggs taken, conform to one general type of coloration, though 

 there is some variation. All the eggs of each of the four sets are practically identi- 

 cal among themselves. Two extremes of coloration may be described. In one 

 style the ground color is white, with the palest possible tint of grayish-blue. The 

 markings are so profuse as nearly to obscure the ground, doing so completely 

 about the larger ends. These markings vary from brick red, through an un- 

 broken series of tints to very pale lavender; but a vinaceous tint prevails. The 

 markings are in the nature of blotches and finer dots and points, often blurred 

 together. In the other style of egg the ground is white with a decided pale blue 

 tint, spattered with blotches and spots of lengthwise trend. These are thickest 

 at the large end, bold and distinct, not running together, and are in color lavender, 

 vinaceous, brick red and burnt sienna. 



