Bird of the wilderness, 



Blithesome and cumberless, 

 Light be thy matin o'er moorland and lea 



Emblem of happiness ? 



Bless'd is thy dwelling place ! 

 O to abide in the desert with thee ! 



Wild is thy lay and loud, 



Far in the downy cloud ; 

 Love gave it energy, love gave it birth ; 



Where on the dewy wing. 



Where art thou journeying '? 

 Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth. 



O'er fell and fountain sheen, 



O'er moor and mountain green. 

 O'er the red streamer that heralds he day, 



Over the cloudlet dim, 



Over the rainbow's rim. 

 Musical cherub, hie, hie the away ! 



Then when the glooming comes. 



Low in the heather blooms, 

 Sweet will tliy welcome and bed of love be ! 



Emblem of happines ! 



Blest is thy dwelling place ! 

 to abide in the desert with the e ! 



Ettrick Shephekd. 



5logi^> 



AUGUST, 1880. 



No. 6. 



T 



Nests of the Black-throated 

 Bunting. 



[_E. Americana.'l 



HE following description of the nests 

 of this species, will, I think, give a 

 good idea of the material used, and style 

 of building. Other nests that I have seen 

 vary but little from those below, and that 

 only iu containing more corn husks, and 

 one having quite a large piece of a news- 

 paper fastened by grass to the outside. 



The position of the nests was invaribly, 

 or with but one or two exceptions in 30 or 

 40 nests, removed from the ground at least 

 a few inches and in one case^p've feet. The 



bird seems to prefer the Osage Orange as 

 a site for its home, but I have found them 

 in small cedars, clumps of grass by the 

 roadside, raspberry bushes close to the 

 railroad track, and in young fir trees. 



The color of the eggs is a clear blue, 

 rather darker than Blue birds, but these 

 two can not be distinguished with certain- 

 ty. Occasionally a set is found with small 

 lilac or black spots irregularly scattered 

 over the surface. I have seen three sets 

 thus spotted. In two, the spots were black 

 in the third a pale lilac. 



The eggs are from 3 to 5 in number, 

 generally 4, and the dates given below 

 show how the time of laying varies with 

 different birds : Nest No. 1 — Outside com- 

 posed of coarse grass and small weed stalks, 

 a few blades of grass and fine flower stalks 

 of weeds loosely woven together. Inside 

 of this is a lining of blades of grass and 

 very fine grass stalks with a piece of 

 corn husk, somewhat more compactly 

 woven, on which the eggs are laid. No 

 hair or feathers are used. The nest was 

 placed in an osage hedge, about two feet 

 from the ground, and was almost complete- 

 ly hidden by the long dead grass at the 

 roots of the bushes. It was collected on the 

 30th of May, 1877, and contained four 

 fresh eggs, which differed from other egga 

 of this species in having spots of faint lilac 

 scattered irregularly over their surface. 

 Outside diameter 5 1-2 inches, inside 2 1-4 

 inches, height 3 1-4 inches, depth 2 1-2 

 inches. 



Nest No. 2 is composed on the outside 

 of the same materials as No. 1, except that 

 more grass is used and the whole is more 

 compact. The lining is of fine grass and 

 a few black horse hairs. 



