6 THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 



thicket near by. Coming close enough for a shot, I found 

 it so dense that I could not see them, and they kept flying 

 away until I thought that all had gone. Just then a thrush 

 with a long curved bill flew into the same thicket, but 

 nearly on the opposite side from me. A glimpse of some- 

 thing through the thick foliage, followed by a quick shot, 

 and then comes a hunt for my bird which I may have 

 killed or not. I had to go around the clump of mesquite, 

 breaking my way through a dense tangle of wiry bushes, 

 and at length find a place where I can "crawl under." 

 Judge of my surprise when I found, not only a nice male 

 Crissal Thrasher, but three fine male Gambel's Partridge 

 within three feet of each other. Ilie fine dust had found 

 them and killed all so dead that I had not heard a flutter. 

 The last mentioned thrush is quite common, and Bendire's 

 is by no means rare, while Leconte's is also often seen. 

 Palmer's Thrasher I feel sure I saw but did not take it. Here 

 now we may find all the birds already mentioned, and many 

 others, such as Abert's Towhee, Green-tailed Towhee, 

 Chaparral Cock, Gilded fiicker, Plumbeous Bush Tit, and 

 many other species. 



(To be continued.) 



THE NESTING OF THE BLUE-HEADED VIREO, 



AT FITCHBURG, MASS. 



{11'reo solitarius.) 



BY I. C. GREENE. 



Previous to ]8!)0 the nest and eggs of- the Blue-headed 

 Vireo were not known to the ornithologists in this vicinity. 

 On May 2, when I was on one of my collecting trips, and in 

 the deep solitudes of a thick pine wood, in a beautiful 

 valley through which a sparkling brook of some size fol- 

 lowed its winding course among the rocks, my eye caught 

 sight of a small nest suspended from one of the dead limbs 

 of a pine tree. I approached the spot and found that the 

 nest was one of a Blue-headed Vireo. 



The two birds were engtiged in finishing the nest. After 



