IRD8'-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. 



