SVI.VK'OLID.E — TIIK WAUBLKHS. 257 



nephew, Mr. C. 15. Dev"'', Mr. I'.iirroiijflis visited tiiu .-siime wiioils, in lio.xlnny, 

 Deliiwiire County, X. V., in wliicli lie had in ii previou.s yeiir found tlie ne.it 

 of the .Mourning- (iround ■\Varl)ler. The tree.s were mostly hendoek, with an 

 under^Towth of hirch and heecli. They first notieed tiie jiarent liirds with 

 food in their liills, and then .set aliout deliherately to liiid their ne.st iiy 

 M'atehin;,' their movements, lint tiie liirds wen; eiinally vigilant, and watehed 

 tluMu (piite as determinedly. " It was diamond eut diamond." They were so 

 .su.spieious, that, after loading- their iieaks with food, they wouhl swallow it 

 themselves, rather than run the risk of lietrayin^' their seeret hy ajiproaehin^f 

 the nest. They even apparently attemjited to mislead them by heinj,' very pri- 

 vate and uontidential at a ])oint some di.^itanee from the nest. Tiie two watehed 

 the liird.s for over an hour, when the mosquitoes made it too hot for them to 

 hold out any longer, and they made a rush upon the jiTouiid, determined to 

 hunt it over inch liy inch. The l)irds then manifested the <;reatest conster- 

 nation, and when, on leaping over an oM lo^-, the younj;- sprang out with a 

 scream, hut a few feet from them, the <listraeted ])air fairly threw tliem.selves 

 under their very feet. The maUi l)ird trailed his hriglit new jilumage in 

 the dust; and his much more humbly clad mate was, if anything, more .so- 

 licitous and venturesome, coming witiiin easy reach. The ne.st was placed 

 in the fork of a small hemlock, aliout tifteen inches from the ground. There 

 ■were four, and perhaps five, young in the nest, and one egg unhatched, which, 

 on blowing, jiroved to have lieen fresh. 



The nest measures three and a half inches in diameter, and a trifle more 

 than two in height. The cavity is broad and dec}), two and a third inches in 

 diameter at the rim, and on<! and a. half deep. Its base and jjcriphery are 

 loose aggregations of strips of deeayeil inner bark from dead deciduous trees, 

 ehiedy liasswood, strengthened iiy fine twigs, rootlets, and bits of wood and 

 bark Witliin this is a firm, compact, well-woven nest, made by an elabo- 

 rate interweaving of slender njots and twigs, hair, fine pine-neetUes, and simi- 

 lar inatei'ials. 



The egg is oval in shape, le.ss olitu.se, but not pointed, at one end, with a 

 grayish-white ground, ])inkisli wiien unlilown, ami marked around the larger 

 Olid with a wreath, chielly of a i)right umbei-lmnvn with lighter markings of 

 reddish-brown and ob.scure purple. A few smaller dottings of the .same are 

 sparingly distributed over the rest of the egg. Its measurements are .70 by 

 .50 of an inch. It more nearly resembles the eggs of the />. iiuukIoxo than 

 any other, is about five per cent larger, a little more oblong, and the spots 

 differ in their reddish and purplish tinge, so far as one speeinum may be 

 taken as a criterion. 



33 



