210 LAND-BIRDS. 



, a. 5|-6|^ inches long. (Head-markings, never prominent, 

 are as follows : crown bay, finely streaked with black ; me- 

 dian and superciliary stripes, impure white ; side-markings 

 often vague.) Interscapulars, bright reddish brown (or 

 " bay"), pale-edged, and black-streaJced. Tail brown, some- 

 times faintly barred. (Rump, brown with a few markings.) 

 Under parts, white (shaded with brown behind), with black 

 streaks, brown-edged, on the breast and sides, generally coales- 

 cing into a conspicuous blotch on the former (and into maxil- 

 lary stripes). Wings in no contrast to the back. 



b. The nest is composed of dried leaves, stalks, grasses, 

 and the like, and is often bulky. The lining consists of finer 

 materials of the same sort, or of horsehairs. The nest is 

 most often placed upon the ground in fields and pastures, fre- 

 quently under shelter of a bush or tussock ; less commonly in 

 bushes and thickets on or near meadows, or in shrubbery and 

 hedges near houses. Wilson speaks of one found in a cedar 

 tree, five or six feet from the ground ; and I have seen or heard 

 of several peculiar specimens, such as one built in a broken 

 jar. The eggs vary considerably in size, and greatly in color- 

 ation, often resembling those of other species. In eastern 

 Massachusetts two or three sets of four or five (rarely six) are 

 usually laid in the course of the season, the first appearing 

 about the first of May, or even earlier, when snow is on the 

 ground. Several different specimens are now before me. The 

 first measures .85X-60 of an inch, and is dull white (perhaps 

 green-tinged^, faintly but thickly blotched with a purple-tinged 

 brown. The second is elliptical, measuring .78 X -60 of an 

 inch, and is dull white, thickly but irregularly marked with the 

 same purple-tinged brown of a somewhat darker shade, and 

 with traces of lilac. The third is almost elliptical, measures 

 .80 X .58 of an inch, and is marked thickly but finely with 

 brown and lilac. The fourth measures .78 X -55 of an inch, 

 and is white, tinged with greenish gray, and minutely marked 



in the interior of Massachusetts or to often in considerable numbers, through 



the northward during midwinter, but the coldest seasons, in sheltered 



on or near the coast of Massachusetts, swamps and in briery thickets near 



and very generally (it is said) through- streams. — W. B. 

 out Connecticut they may be found, 



