OF NEW ENGLAND. 203 



dian and superciliary stripes, impure white ; side-markings 

 often vague). Inter scapulars, bright reddish-brown (or "bay"), 

 pale-edged, and black-streaked. Tail brown, sometimes faintly 

 barred. (Rump, brown with a few markings.) Under parts, 

 white (shaded with brown behind), with black streaks, brown- 

 edged, on the breast and sides, generally coalescing into a 

 conspicuous blotch on the former (and into maxillary stripes). 

 Wings in no contrast to the back. 



(b). The nest is composed of dried leaves, stalks, grasses 

 and the like, and is often bulk} 7 . The lining consists of finer 

 materials of the same sort, or of horse-hairs. The nest is 

 most often placed upon the ground in fields and pastures, fre- 

 quently under shelter of a bush or tussock ; less commonly in 

 bushes and thickets on or near meadows, or in shrubbery and 

 hedges near houses. Wilson speaks of one found in a cedar- 

 tree, five or six feet from the ground ; and I have seen or heard 

 of several peculiar specimens, such as one built in a broken 

 jar. The eggs vary considerably in size, and greatly in colora- 

 tion, often resembling those of other species. In Eastern 

 Massachusetts two or three sets of four or five (rarely six) are 

 usually laid in the course of the season, the first appearing 

 about the first of May, or even earlier, when snow is on the 

 ground. Several different specimens are now before me. The 

 first measures -85 X ' 60 of an inch, and is dull white (perhaps 

 green-tinged), faintly but thickly blotched with a purple-tinged 

 brown. The second is elliptical, measuring *78 X '60 of an 

 inch, and is dull white, thickly but irregularly marked with the 

 same purple-tinged brown of a somewhat darker shade, and 

 with traces of lilac. The third is almost elliptical, measures -80 

 X "58 of an inch, and is marked thickly but finely with brown 

 and lilac. The fourth measures -78 X "55 of an inch, and is 

 white, tinged with greenish gray, and minutely marked with 

 sandy brown, a little lilac, and one or two black scrawls near 

 the crown. The fifth is light blue, greenish- tinged, finely 

 marked and also irregularly blotched, chiefly at the crown, 

 with Vandyke-brown and a little lilac, and measures *78 X "58 

 of an inch. The sixth measures -77 X '55 of an inch, and is 



