AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



227 



Photo by J. B. Canfield. 



NEST OF LA. WATER-THRUSH SHOWING SITUATION. 



both birds will fly up and down the stream until they have found some 

 dead leaves resting in a little surface water, and often partially covered 

 with mud. A leaf will be picked up here and there and carefully exam- 

 ined, and if to their liking, will be taken to the site and laid down. 

 The birds seem to select wet leaves, as they are not so apt to be 

 blown away or misplaced. This operation will be gone through with 

 until a large number of leaves have been placed in the cavity. The 

 conformity of the hollow has been followed, and on the bed of leaves 

 the nest proper is placed, made of grasses, skeleton leaves, etc. The 

 lining is made of skeleton leaves, fine grasses, hair-like roots and horse 

 hair. One or two days elapse before the female begins to lay, then laying 

 one egg every day until the set is completed, five being the usual num- 

 ber but often six. Incubation then begins and is continued twelve or 

 fourteen days, depending on the weather. The female does most of 

 the incubating, for I have never seen a male on the nest. She is a 

 very close setter, often allowing you to almost touch her before leav- 

 ing the nest, then sliding off like a mouse, stopping a few feet away 

 chirping and scolding at you with great vehemence, and watching to 

 see that you do not get too near. 



The young birds when hatched are brooded for a few hours before 

 being fed. Both birds are ardent providers, and the young grow rap- 

 idly leaving the nest in a week or ten days. After the young have left 

 the nest, the old birds will often build and raise another brood, if the 

 season is favorable. If robbed of their eggs they will lay a second 

 and even a third set, returning year after year to the same locality. 



J. B. Canfield. Bridgeport, Conn. 



