36 



to a large brook. I was about to drink, when a bird flew right in my 

 face, startling me greatly; but soon I 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, occupying 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 uusuccessiully ever since the 

 middle of May. The parents always seemed greatly distressed when- 

 evei 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 loth, 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 22ud 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, tribu- 

 tary to a large brook. Its position 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 presents 

 the following dimensions: internal diameter, 295 inches; internal 

 depth, 1-25 inches. The six eggs measure, respectively, -75X'(>2; 

 79X-G5: -77X-64; -75 X 'Go ; '75X03; -74X02. This nest and 

 the others resemble so closely, in composition, those already de- 

 scribed by Mr. Brewster, that a detailed 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 eggs is in 



