The Veery 347 



as yet unable to fly. They were always perched in the bushes a few feet 

 from the ground, and usually one or both of the parents at once dis- 

 covered me. 



This recalled Miss Florence Merriam's saying, in her "Birds of Vil- 

 lage and Field," that the Veery is a peculiarly companionable bird to 

 those who live near its haunts. "It will become so tame," she tells us, 

 "as to nest close to a house if not disturbed, and when sought in its 

 natural woodland home will meet your friendly advances with confidence, 

 answering your whistle with its own sweet, wavering whee-u, till you 

 feel that the woods hold gentle friends to whom you will gladly return." 



The next summer found me again in these woods, prying into 

 every thicket and clump of sprouts where a Veery might hide, and 

 then at eight o'clock on the morning of June 19, I came upon a bird 

 sitting on her nest. With the greatest caution I withdrew, only to go 

 again the next day, and the day following, hoping to find her away. On 

 the fourth trip, when I peeped into the hiding-place I found her gone. 

 Drawing the bushes aside I advanced and looked into the nest. It was 

 empty. On the ground I found three eggs. They were deep blue, un- 

 spotted, and resembled the eggs of a Catbird, but were 

 smaller. Every one had a large section of the shell 

 cut away and there was no sign of its contents. 

 Surely the red squirrel I had frequently seen near by had wrought this 

 mischief at least, in my disappointment, I laid the blame at his door. 



This nest rested among the top limbs of a little brushpile, and was 

 just two feet above the ground. Some young shoots had grown up 

 through the brush and their leaves partly covered the nest from view. 

 It had an extreme breadth of ten inches and was five inches high. In 

 its construction two small weed-stalks and eleven slender twigs were 

 used. The nest was made mainly of sixty-eight large leaves, besides a 

 mass of decayed leaf-fragments. Inside this bed was the inner nest, two 

 inches and a half wide, composed of strips of soft bark. 



The Veery, in common with a large number of other birds, builds a 

 nest open at the top. The eggs, therefore, are often more or less ex- 

 posed to the Crow, the pilfering Jay, and the egg-stealing red squirrel. 

 This necessitates a very close and careful watch on the part of the owners. 

 At times it may seem that the birds are not in sight, and that the eggs 

 are deserted, but let the observer go too near and invariably one or both 

 old birds will apprize him of their presence by voicing their resentment 

 in loud cries of distress. 



The Veery is not among the first-comers in Spring, but appears in 

 the United States from its winter home in the tropics about the first 

 of May. The species is then scattered during the summer from Colo- 

 rado to Labrador, where Audubon mentions finding it ; but it is rarely 

 seen or heard south of New York City and the Great Lakes, except in the 

 mountains, until it returns, southward flying, in the autumn. 



It may be found, however, even in the prairie-country of the North- 



