218 Sketches of Soyne Conwion Birds. 



sometimes selects a site in thorny bushes and scrubby or 

 thorny trees. A favorite site is a horizontal branch of 

 hard maple, near the middle point of the branch. A fork 

 of a sapling in partially cleared regions is a very common 

 situation lor the nest, and a bough or sapling bent over 

 toward the ground is frequently made the location of a 

 home. It is generally placed at distances varying from 

 five to fifteen feet from the ground. 



Nidification occurs in the first week of May, and the 

 nests are usually furnished with full sets of eggs by the 

 middle of the month. A typical nest of the wood thrush 

 is three and one-half by three and one-fourth inches across 

 the cavity, and two and one-fourth inches deep. The 

 foundation is made of dried leaves and coarse stems. The 

 walls are made of muddy, decayed vegetable materials, 

 and soft punk, which form a sort of "papier-mache" 

 composition when dried. The cavity is lined with rootlets 

 and soft stems, somewhat scantily, the rootlets being simi- 

 lar to those used by the brown thrasher and catbird in 

 their nests. The eggs are either four or five, and are 

 greenish-blue, unspotted, averaging 1.02 by .75 of an inch. 



John Burroughs, in his " The Tragedies of the l^ests," 

 writes as follows concerning the nesting of this species: 

 "There is no nest-builder that suffers more from crows 

 and squirrels and other enemies than the wood thrush. 

 It builds as openly and unsuspiciously as if it thought the 

 whole world as honest as itself. Its favorite place is the 

 fork of a sapling, eight or ten feet from the ground, where 

 it fialls an easy prey to every nest-robbcr that comes 

 prowling through the woods and groves. It is not a bird 

 that skulks and hides, like the catbird, the brown thrasher, 

 the chat, or the chewink, and its nest is not concealed 

 with the same art as theirs. Our thrushes are all frank, 

 open-mannered birds; but the veery and the hermit build 

 upon the ground, where they at least escape the crows, 

 owls, and jays, and stand a better chance to be overlooked 

 by the red squirrel and weasel also; while the robin seeks 

 the protection of dwellings and out-buildings. For years 

 I have not known the nest of a wood thrush to succeed. 

 During the season referred to, I observed but two, both 

 apparently a second attempt, as the season was well ad- 

 vanced, and both failures." 



