3IRD&-NESTS. 151 



might have come out of a hole near its base. 

 As the bird paused a few yards from me, 

 and began to chirp uneasily, my curiosity 

 was at once excited. When I saw it was 

 the female mourning ground warbler, and re- 

 membered that the nest of this bird had not 

 yet been seen by any naturalist, that not 

 even Dr. Brewer had ever seen the eggs, 

 I felt that here was something worth looking 

 for. So I carefully began the search, ex- 

 ploring inch by inch the ground, the base and 

 roots of the tree, and the various shrubby 

 growths about it, till, finding nothing, and 

 fearing I might really put my foot in it, I 

 bethought me to withdraw to a distance and 

 after some delay return again, and, thus fore- 

 warned, note the exact point from which the 

 bird flew. This I did, and, returning, had 

 little difficulty in discovering the nest. It 

 was placed but a few feet from the maple- 

 tree, in a bunch of ferns, and about six 

 inches from the ground. It was quite a 

 massive nest, composed entirely of the stalks 

 and leaves of dry grass, with an inner lining 

 of fine, dark- brown roots. The eggs, three in 

 number, were of light flesh color, uniformly 

 specked with fine brown specks. The cavity 

 of the nest was so -deep that the back of the 

 sitting bird sank below the edge. 



