BIRDS’—NESTS 113 
tone that rang in the ear long afterward. The nest 
was suspended to the fork of a small branch, as is 
usual with the vireos, plentifully lined with lichens, 
and bound and rebound with masses of coarse spider- 
webs. There was no attempt at concealment except 
in the neutral tints, which made it look like a 
natural growth of the dim, gray woods. 
Continuing my random walk, I next paused in a 
low part of the woods, where the larger trees began 
to give place to a thick second-growth that covered 
an old Barkpeeling. I was standing by a large 
maple, when a small bird darted quickly away from 
it, as if it might have come out of a hole near its | 
base. As the bird paused a few yards from me, | 
and began to chirp uneasily, my curiosity was at/ 
once excited. When I saw it was the female 
mourning ground warbler, and remembered that the 
nest of this bird had not yet been seen by any 
naturalist, —that not even Dr. Brewer had ever 
seen the eggs, —I felt that here was something 
worth looking for. So I carefully began the search, 
exploring inch by inch the ground, the base and 
roots of the tree, and the various shrubby growths 
about it, till, finding nothing and fearing I might 
really put my foot in it, I bethought me to with- 
draw to a distance and after some delay return 
again, and, thus forewarned, note the exact point 
from which the bird flew. This I did, and, Te-/ 
turning, had little difficulty in discovering the nest. : 
It was placed but a few feet from the maple-tree, ; 
in a bunch of ferns, and about six inches from the 
4 
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