WARBLERS. 63 



mon name. The typical nest is of the appearance of two nests unit- 

 ed at the rim, and leaving only a small opening at one side They 

 are usually composed of mosses, lichens, dry leaves and srnall dry 

 stems of plants. The entrance is a strong frame-work of small twigs 

 and roots, intermingled with mosses firmly interwoven. 



The eggs are oval in shape, one end being but slightly smaller 

 than the other. Their ground-color is a beautiful creamy white. 

 They are marked with dots and blotches of a red and reddish-brown, 

 chiefly at the greater end. They are usually four or five in number, 

 and average .82 by .55. 



116. SIURUS N^VIUS. 



SMALL-BILLED WATER THRUSH. 



Habitat, Eastern Province of North America, North to the Arctic 

 Ocean. A nest of this Warbler found by Mr, Verril in Western 

 Maine is described by Dr. Brewer as being built in an excavation in 

 the side of a decayed moss-covered log, the excavation forming an 

 arch over the nest in the manner of that of the Golden Crowned 

 Thrush. The nest itself is an exceeding beautiful structure four 

 and a half inches in diameter, but only an inch in depth, being very 

 nearly flat, the cavity only half an inch deep. The entire base was 

 made of loose hypnum mosses, interspersed with a few dead leaves 

 and stems. The whole inner structure or lining was made up of 

 the fruit-stems of the same moss, densely impacted. The outer 

 circumference was made up of mosses and intertwined with small 

 black vegetable roots. 



Their eggs vary in length from .81 to .87of an inch, and in 

 breadth from .65 to .69. They have an oblong-oval shape, tapering 

 to a point at one end and rounded at the other. Their ground is a 

 clear crystal-white, and they are more or less marked with lines, 

 dots, and dashes of varying shades of umber-brown. These mark- 

 ings are more numerous around the larger end, and are much larger 

 and bolder in some than in others, in many being mere points and 

 fine dots and in such cases equally distributed over the whole tgg. 

 In others a ring of large confluent blotches is grouped around the 

 larger end, leaving the rest of the egg nearly unmarked. 



