BIRDS'-NESTS. 1 2 3 



female calling to her mate at intervals, love-e, love-e, 

 with a cadence and tenderness in the tone that rang in 

 the ear long afterward. The nest was suspended to 

 the fork of a small branch, as is usual with the vireos, 

 plentifully lined with lichens, and bound and rebound 

 with masses of coarse spider-webs. There was no at- 

 tempt at concealment except in the neutral tints, which 

 made it look like a natural growth of the dim, gray 

 woods. 



Continuing my random walk, I next paused in a low 

 part of the woods, where the larger trees began to give 

 place to a thick second growth that covered an old 

 Barkpeeling. I was standing by a large maple, when 

 a small bird darted quickly away from it, as if it might 

 have come out of a hole near its base. As the bird 

 paused a few yards frpm me, and began to chirp un- 

 easily, my curiosity was at once excited. When I saw 

 it was the female mourning ground warbler, and re- 

 membered that the nest of this bird had not yet been 

 seen by any naturalist, — that not even Dr. Brewer 

 had ever seen the eggs, — I felt that here was some- 

 thing worth looking for. So I carefully began the 

 search, exploring inch by inch the ground, the base 

 and roots of the tree, and the various shrubby growths 

 about it, till, finding nothing, and fearing I might 

 really put my foot in it, I bethought me to withdraw 

 to a distance and after some delay return again, and, 

 thus forewarned, note the exact point from which the 

 bird flew. This I did, and, returning, had little diffi- 



