THRUSH COUSINS 



wings over the youngsters like an umbrella, thus 

 keeping them dry, despite the downpour. 



The Veery generally builds on the ground in the 

 woods, among shrubbery, or very near mother earth 

 in a clump of low bushes. Generally it is not easy to 

 find the nest except by flushing the brooding bird from 

 it, but in this way I have often found nests and photo- 

 graphed them. The Veery will let one come quite 

 close before leaving, and I have tried to snap her by 

 walking up with the camera in hand, but she could not 

 quite muster up courage to wait for me. Sometime, 

 when I get round to it, I imagine it will not be so very 

 hard to get a picture by setting the camera. I had a 

 good chance this last season and would have tried it, 

 had not some bad boys broken up the nest. It was on 

 the edge of a little wood road quite near home, in some 

 low weeds, about a foot from the ground, right in plain 

 sight of any passer-by. It is strange what pleasure 

 anyone can find in destroying a bird's home and eggs 

 without purpose, not even for collecting, but just in 

 wanton destruction. How infinitely much more real 

 fun it would be to watch this family from the first to 

 the time when the young were grown — seeing when 

 each egg was laid, how long it took to hatch, how the 

 parents fed the young, how long it took them to grow 

 up, how they left the nest, and so on. But to destroy 

 a bird's nest "for the fun of it" is lower than brutish, 

 for even a "rascal" crow or jay robs nests for food. 



The nest of the Wood Thrush is generally built in 



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