THE AMERICAN CREEPEB. 191 



is built in a hollow limb of a tree, in a deserted nest of a 

 woodpecker or squirrel, or a hole in a fence-post. Usually 

 the locality is chosen in the deep woods, and seldom near 

 dwellings or in the orchards. The materials used in the 

 construction are soft grasses, feathers, and the bark of 

 the cedar and grape-vine. The eggs are usually about six in 

 number : their color is a dull-gray ; and they are marked, 

 thickest near the great end, with small spots of reddish- 

 brown, and a few dabs of a darker color. Mr. Allen speaks 

 of a nest being found " in a large elm in Court Square, 

 Springfield, about ten feet from the ground, and built behind 

 a strip of thick bark that projected in such a way as to leave 

 a protected cavity behind it." Dimensions of eggs average 

 about .70 by .50 inch. But one brood is reared in the 

 season in New England. 



