210 SINGING BIRDS. 



fallen heap of lilac twigs in a ravine, and also in a small 

 withered branch of red oak which had fallen into a bush ; be- 

 low it was also bedded with exactly similar leaves, so as easily 

 to deceive the eye. But with all these precautions they appear 

 to lose many eggs and young by squirrels and other animals. 

 The nest is usually bottomed with dry oak or beech leaves, 

 coarse stalks of grass and weeds, and lined very generally with 

 naturally dissected foliage, its stalks, some fine grass, and at 

 other times a mixture of root-fibres ; but no earth is employed 

 in the fabric. The eggs, 4 or 5, are of an emerald green with- 

 out spots, and differ from those of the Catbird only in being a 

 little smaller and more inclined to blue. So shy is the species 

 that though I feigned a violent chirping near the nest contain- 

 ing their young, which brought Sparrows and a neighboring 

 Baltimore to the rescue, the parents, peeping at a distance, did 

 not venture to approach or even express any marked concern, 

 though they prove very watchful guardians when their brood 

 are fledged and with them in the woods. They have com- 

 monly two broods in the season ; the second being raised 

 about the middle of July, after which their musical notes are 

 but seldom heard. I afterwards by an accident obtained a 

 young fledged bird, which retained in the cage the unsocial 

 and silent timidity peculiar to the species. 



Wilson's Thrush breeds farther to the southward than the Her- 

 mit, but does not range quite so far north. It is common in the 

 Maritime Provinces and near the city of Quebec, but has not been 

 taken recently on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It 

 breeds abundantly in Ontario and in northern Ohio. 



In New Brunswick I have found the nest as frequently in an 

 open pasture as in more obscure places. 



