152 NESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



a number of years ago. As I was returning home through the woods one 

 evening, I stopped to drink, hunter fashion, from a cold spring that bursts 

 from the side of a ravine, close to a large brook. I was about to drink, 

 when a bird flew right in. my face, startling me greatly; but I soon heard 

 the accustomed chick, uttered in a loud, complaining tone, and then I 

 saw the bird tilting up and down upon a stone in the middle of the brook. 

 The nest was placed at the side of the spring just above the water, occu- 

 pying the cavity whence a round stone had been dislodged. It contained 

 four eggs, having embryos considerably advanced. The nest was loosely 

 constructed of strips of bark, grasses, stems of plants, and leaves. A nest 

 was also found in this same spot on a succeeding season, from which five 

 fresh eggs were taken. The eggs of the first set are before me, and are 

 as described by Mr. Brewster, except that the markings are aggregated at 

 the larger ends; the darkest arranged in a circle near that extremity. This 

 nest was found May 31. In 1877 I found as many as six young Water 

 Thrushes in a nest that was built in a pile of debris that was lodged in 

 some bushes that grew on a little island in the midst of a large stream. 

 This nest was very artfully concealed, and I had searched for it unsuc- 

 cessfully ever since the middle of May. The parents always seemed greatly 

 distressed whenever I approached the nest, and always tried to lead me 

 away from it. I should not have discovered it had not the young ones 

 betrayed its presence by their chirping. They left the nest about June 10. 

 On May 7, 1878, I shot a female containing an egg of full size in her 

 oviduct. On the 15th, after a long search and several previous failures, I 

 found a newly finished nest. So carefully was it concealed, that I looked 

 directly into it before making its discovery. By the 21st five eggs were 

 laid, but neither of the parents would approach it. On the 22nd six eggs 

 had been deposited, and I nearly succeeded in capturing the sitting bird; 

 but it slipped away just as I was going to put my hand over it, and ran 

 down the bed of the brook to the large stream, where it remained silent 

 till nearly approached, when it flew into a tree opposite, where it bowed 

 and chipped in a low tone till shot. The nest was placed under the bank 

 of a smaller stream, tributary to a large brook. Its poiition was such, that 

 only accident, or the most careful search, could discover it. The projecting 

 branches of a laurel-bush still further aided its concealment. The nest pre- 

 sents the following dimensions : internal diameter, 2.95 inches; internal depth, 

 I 25 inches. The six eggs measure, respectively, .75X.62; .79X.65; .77X 

 .64; .75X.63; .75X.63; .74X.62. This nest and the others resemble so 

 closely, in composition, those already described by Mr. Brewster, that a de- 

 tailed description is unnecessary; their form and materials differ slightly, 

 according to situation. On May 23, 1878, I took five slightly incubated eggs 

 from a nest that was placed under some brush and roots, in the bank of 

 a small stream that flows into the Buttermilk Falls brook. One of these 



