THE WINTER WREN. 283 



appearance of a narrow bag, the wall, however, being re- 

 duced to a few lines where it was in contact with the bark 

 of the tree. The lower half of the cavity was compactly 

 lined with the fur of the American Hare, and in the bottom 

 or bed of the nest there lay over this about half a dozen of 

 the large, downy abdominal feathers of our Common Grouse, 

 {Tetraoumbellus). The eggs were of a delicate blu;'? color, 

 somewhat resembling the paler leaves of a partially decayed 

 rose, and marked with dots of reddish-brown, more numer- 

 ous towards the larger end." The second nest he found 

 "was attached to the lower part of a rock," on the bank 

 of the Mohawk River. It was similar to the other, only 

 smaller, and contained six eggs, the same number as found 

 in the former. 



The nest, with eggs of this species upon which our later 

 ornithologists have been pretty much dependent for their 

 descriptions, was found by W. F. Hall in Eastern Maine; 

 the " nest built in an unoccupied log-hut, among the fir- 

 leaves and mosses in a crevice between the logs. It was 

 large and bulky, composed externally of mosses, and lined 

 with feathers and the fur of hedge-hogs. The shape was 

 that of a pouch, the entrance being neatly framed with 

 sticks, and the walls very strong, thick, and firmly com- 

 pacted. Its hemlock framework had been made of green 

 materials, and their agreeable odor pervaded the whole 

 structure." 



Mr. H. D. Minot says: "Five eggs, not quite fresh, 

 which I took from a nest in the White Mountains on the 

 23d of July (probably those of a second set), were pure 

 crystal-white, thinly and -minutely specked with bright 

 reddish-brown, and averaging about .VOx.SO of an inch. 

 The nest, thickly lined with feathers of the Ruffed Grouse, 

 was in a low, moss-covered stump, about a foot high, in a 



