NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 7 



in this section of the country was that collected by Mr. C. J. 

 Maynard, June 12, 1869, and admirably described by him on 

 page 100 of the "Naturalist's Guide." This nest was placed on 

 a slightly elevated tuft of moss, near a swampy thicket, within 

 a short distance of a travelled road, and contained four eggs, 

 and also one of the Cow Bird (Molothrus pecoris), which were 

 within a few days of hatching. Since this nest was found there 

 have been no others' taken, to my knowledge, until the past year 

 when three were discovered ; one each by my friends, E. B. 

 Towne, Jr., and W. W. Eager, who have kindly allowed me to 

 use their notes, and the third by my brother and myself. 



We were out collecting on the afternoon of June 8th, 1875, 

 and while passing through a strip of swampy land on the out- 

 skirts of a small wood, flushed a bird from under a plant known 

 as " Skunk Cabbage," ( Symplocarpus fcetidu*. ) 



Upon searching we found the nest concealed by the large 

 leaves of the plant. It was raised about two inches above the 

 wet ground by dead oak and maple leaves which were quite 

 damp. The owner soon came back, and hopping excitedly from 

 branch to branch of an alder thicket a few yards away, almost 

 continually uttered a sharp chirp of alarm, betokening her strong 

 dislike to the intruders ; but, strange to say, her mate did not 

 make his appearance, although we could hear him distinctly 

 zee-zee-zeeing, a few rods away. As it was fast growing dark, 

 and feeling satisfied that she had laid her set, we shot her. 



The nest, which closely resembles that of the Maryland Yel- 

 low-throat (Geothlypis trichas), is composed outwardly of dry 

 oak and maple leaves, interspersed with long stripes of the out- 

 er bark of the grape vine ; and is lined with fine fibrous shreds 

 of the same of a reddish tint, interwoven with one or two very 

 small pieces of dry grass. The measurements are as follows : 

 height, 2.75 inches ; width, 4.25 ; diameter inside, 2.30 ; depth 

 inside, 1.60. 



The eggs are three in number, two pure white ; the third 

 sparsely spotted on the larger end, and measured respectively, 

 .69x.53, .68x.51, and ,65x.49. One of them was out of the nest, 

 and had three small holes close to each other on the upper side, 

 through which a little of the albumen had leaked out and dried. 

 I cannot with certainty account for this, as I feel quite positive 

 that no other person had ever molested the nest, but think that 

 a squirrel, or other rodent, had eaten one of the eggs, pulled 



