161 



best condition was built upon a layer of leaves, apparentlj^ upon the 

 ground, composed otherwise entirely of rootlets and fine grasses. 

 The other contained five eggs ; they are more globular than apy of 

 those of S. novehoracensis I have seen, but not otherwise different; 

 and other sets would probably not be distinguishable. The roundest 

 one of them measures only 069 by 0-59." 



These nests remained unique until Mr. William Brewster "had the 

 good fortune to secure two fully identified nests of this species in 

 Knox County, Indiana," in the spring of 1878.^ "The first, taken with 

 the female parent May 6, contained six eggs, which had been incu- 

 bated a few days. The locality was the edge of a lonely forest pool 

 in the depths of a cypress swamp near White River. A large tree 

 had fallen into the shallow water, and the earth adhering to the roots 

 formed a nearly vertical but somewhat irregular wall about six feet in 

 height and ten or twelve in breadth. Near the upper edge of this, in 

 a cavity among the finer roots, was placed the nest, which, but for the 

 situation and the peculiar character of its composition, would have 

 been exceedingl}'^ conspicuous. The nest, which is before me, is 

 exceedingly large and bulky, measuring externally 3-50 inches in 

 diameter, by 8 inches in length, and 3*50 inches in depth. Its outer 

 wall, a solid mass of soggy dead leaves plastered tightly together by 

 the mud adhering to their surfaces, rises in the form of a rounded 

 parapet, the outer edge of which was nicely graduated to conform to 

 the edge of the earthy bank in which it was placed. In one corner 

 of this mass, and well back, is the nest proper, a neatly rounded, 

 cup-shaped hollow, measuring 2-50 inches in diameter by 2-50 inches 

 in depth. This inner nest is composed of small twigs and green 

 mosses, with a lining of dry grasses and a few hairs of squirrels or 

 other mammals arranged circularly. The eggs found in this nest are 

 of a rounded-oval shape and possess a high polish. Their ground- 

 color is white with a fleshy tint. About the greater ends are numer- 

 ous large but exceedingly regular blotches of dark umber with fainter 

 sub-markings of pale lavender, while over the remainder of their 

 surface are thickly sprinkled dottings of reddish-brown. But slight 

 variation of marking occurs, and that mainly with regard to the 

 relative size of the blothes upon the greater ends. They measure, re- 

 spectively, -75 X -63, -78 X '64, -75 X '63, '76 X '62, -76 X '62, -75 X -61." 



Mr. Brewster then gives a pleasant description of the second nest, 

 taken May 8, on the opposite side of the same pond, in a precisely 

 similar situation, where his previous experience enabled him to find 

 it directly. In shape it was nearly square, "measuring externally 



6 See Bulletin of the Xuttall Ornithological Chib, Yol. Ill, Xo. 3, pp. 133 to 135, 

 July, 1878. • 



