110 WAKE-ROBIN 
and less than half a mile from the boundary, I have \ 
counted the nests of five different species at one | 
time, and that without any very close scrutiny of | 
the foliage, while, in many acres of woodland half 
a mile off, I searched in vain for a single nest. 
Among the five, the nest that interested me most 
was that of the blue grosbeak. Here this bird, 
which, according to Audubon’s observations in Lou- 
isiana, is shy and recluse, affecting remote marshes 
and the borders of large ponds of stagnant water, 
had placed its nest in the lowest twig of the lowest 
branch of a large sycamore, immediately over a 
great thoroughfare, and so near the ground that a 
person standing in a cart or sitting on a horse could 
have reached it with his hand. The nest was com- 
posed mainly of fragments of newspaper and stalks 
of grass, and, though so low, was remarkably well 
concealed by one of the peculiar clusters of twigs 
and leaves which characterize this tree. The nest 
contained young when I discovered it, and, though 
the parent birds were much annoyed by my loiter- 
ing about beneath the tree, they paid little atten- 
tion to the stream of vehicles that was constantly 
passing. It was a wonder to me when the birds 
could have built it, for they are much shyer when 
building than at other times. No doubt they 
worked mostly in the morning, having the early 
hours all to themselves. 
» Another pair of blue grosbeaks built in a grave- 
ly ard within the city limits. The nest was placed 
‘in a low bush, and the male continued to sing at 
