46 THE NEW WAGTAIL'S NEST. 



we never found one of their nests; but it was my good-luck to discover 

 its home near Norwich, Connecticut, where it is very rare, and very much 

 farther north-east than it had ever before been known to breed.* 



I was walking up the bed of the Yantic Eiver— much such a stream 

 as appears in the illustration on page 45 — one day in the latter part of 

 June, stepping from stone to stone, and searching the overhanging branches 

 for nests, when a little bird I did not at once recognize darted from under 

 the roots of a beech-tree growing on the sheer edge of the steep bank, 

 and flew straight away, littering alarmed chirrups. Feeling interested, 

 I concealed myself near by and patiently waited, confident that the 

 strange bird would return. In twenty minutes I was rewarded by its 

 reappearance, and then I saw, with delight, that it was a female large- 

 billed wagtail, and that she had her home under the roots of the beech ; 

 but she seemed to have forgotten all about the disturbance, and to be in 

 no haste whatever to resume her sitting. By these signs I concluded that 

 her eggs were fresh, for when she is driven off during the latter days of 

 incubation she rolls and tntnbles about, uttering piteous cries to attract 

 your pursuit. When at length she disclosed its position, I found the nest 

 sunk behind a cushion of moss, and into the rotten wood among the roots, 

 in such a manner that it was covered over completely. 



It was rather loosely and carelessly constructed of fine grass and some 

 dead, fibrous moss ; bnt, beneath and about the outside, particularly in 

 front, many dead leaves were put as a sort of breastwork, the more thor- 

 oughly to conceal the sitting bird. It was a typical nest, except that often 

 it is more conspicuously placed. The four eggs were of a beautiful rosy 

 tint (becoming pure white after being blown), and were profusely spotted 

 all over with dots, specks, and obscure zigzaggings, of two tints of reddish 

 brown and faint lilac, the spots most crowded at the large end. 



In order to distinguish these two species apart, and from the golden- 

 crown, a somewhat minute description of each will be necessary; 



The small-billed wagtail (Siurus ncevius) is six and one-fifth inches in 

 length, with the bill about as long as the skull. The plumage above is 

 olive brown, with a shade of green ; beneath, sulphur yellow, brightest 

 on the abdomen. There is a brownish yellow line over the eye, a dusky 

 line from the bill through it, and the throat and chin are finely spotted. 

 All the remaining under parts, except the abdomen and sides of the body, 

 are thickly streaked with olivaceous brown, almost black on the breast. 



* See American Naturalist, vol. viii., p. 238, and Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological 

 Club, vol. Hi. , p. 133 ; vol. v., p. 116. 



