8 NBSTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



usually completed by the 15th of the month, except in New 

 England, where the date is somewhat later. Although very 

 common in wooded and thickety districts, they are more shy 

 than the robins, and conceal their houses with much greater 

 care, often contriving to curtain them with long leaves and 

 trailing vines. 



The nest of this thrush is nearly as bulky as the robin's, but 

 generally has little or no mud in its composition. It is placed 

 upon the horizontal branch of a forest tree, anywhere from six 

 to forty feet above the ground, or in the forks of a sapling. 

 The materials are twigs, coarse grasses, and dried leaves — of 

 which latter, in damp situations, there is often a great thickness 

 underneath — well combined, and lined with fine roots and 

 grasses. "While it is not common to find this thrush nesting 

 away from the woods. Dr. Brewer, Mr. Burroughs and others 

 mention instances where it built in gardens close to the house, 

 so long as it. was left undisturbed ; and a friend of mine, in 

 Astoria, L. I,, has amused himself for several summers in pro- 

 viding a familiar pair of wood thrushes with quaint materials, 

 including strips of newspaper, and vvatching them construct 

 their home in his door-yard. Whatever its situation, the type 

 is well adhered to, and the foundation of dead beech or oak 

 leaves is a characteristic. But I remember one case in which 

 ribbon-like grass had been used instead, and I am told that in 

 lieu of the usual layer of impacted leaves, an underpinning of 

 mud or cow-dung is sometimes found. The construction of the 

 whole occupies both sexes steadily for five or six days, and 

 measures externally about 5 inches in diameter ; internal width, 

 4 inches; depth, 1.75 inches. 



The books say that but one brood is raised in New England, 

 but I am inclined to think otherwise. Mr. Maynard says the 

 usual time of nesting, near Boston, is June i, although he has 

 found the young on the 4th. Mr. Samuels places the date as 

 May 20. In Michigan, Mr. A. B. Covert of Ann Ai'bor writes 

 me, he has taken fresh eggs on various dates between May 10 

 and June 4. During the summer of 1S73, I spent several weeks 

 at Norwich, Conn., where these thrushes are abundant. On 

 June 2, I found one of their nests, containing four eggs, which 



