OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 77 



was that we had not seen it before. It was firmly saddled onto 

 the branch at the forking near the end of a bough, and though 

 composed of few materials, twine, plant-down, rootlets, with 

 finer rootlets for interlining, it seemed made wholly for use, 

 with no thought of beauty. 



In a much-loved wood, where the veer}- sings its vesper from 

 the tallest pines, their nests have been formed on the ground, 

 but this year, in later May, we flushed a veerj' from her nest on 

 a brush-pile. There it was, in full view, onl}^ shielded from 

 the rains of heaven and the scorching sun by one immense 

 brake. The nest was composed of leaves and bark. Upon the 

 lining of the rootlets reposed three eggs of greenish blue. 

 Could even an experienced eye decide whether these were the 

 eggs of the veerj^, or its cousin the robin, or the wood thrush, 

 when the bird was not seen in the nest ? 



May 30 was a raw, lowery, damp day, but despite the weather 

 there were three wood thrushes calling back and forth, and at 

 times all uniting in a chorus more uplifting than that of human 

 voices. The hill- top woods find them there each year, and with 

 patient search we found the nest, on which was sitting the beau- 

 tiful female with clear spotted breast, quiet brown eye and long, 

 trim tail. But the home solitude being invaded, she left her 

 nest. It was placed about nine feet high, in a sapling pine, at 

 the junction of the clustering branches ; it was largely composed 

 of leaves, with twigs and rootlets interwoven. Amid an en- 

 chanting woodland setting, where grew a profusion of the flow- 

 ering moosewood, mingled with the hemlock and young, tender 

 green of the tall chestnut trees, with here and there a thorn 

 tree in full bloom, it seemed a more fitting spot to find our 

 wood thrush located. A second nest was in this aesthetic spot, 

 and was built in a curious fashion on the crossing of two witch- 

 hazel boughs. Not an egg was found in either of these nests, 

 showing that our veery had nested earlier in this instance. 



Our next find was a family of five half-fledged bluebirds in 

 the decaj^ed trunk of an old appletree. They reposed on a soft 

 lining of pine needles. The parent birds refused to feed the 



