126 WOOD NOTES AND NEST HUNTING. 



Wilson's thrush. The note is ^o different from 

 that sweet, mellow hymn of his, so irritable and 

 peevish, yet with such an expression of entreaty 

 and pleading, that I feel sure of treading near 

 some -special tussock or bush. Not far away a 

 tawny bird flies up and eyes me askance from 

 behind a curtain of leaves as I search for its 

 home. Here it is, sure enough, saddled on the 

 trunk of a fallen white cedar. Truly the female 

 has manifested a great deal of foresight and 

 " mother wit," for she has chosen a place over 

 which bends a, branch with thick, heavy spray, as 

 good an umbrella and protection from the rains and 

 scorching rays as could have been found in a day's 

 flight. The exterior nest, which is mainly com- 

 posed of small strips of cedar bark, is trimmed 

 with dead leaves, which hang loosely here and 

 there about the walls, as if the bird had put them 

 there for the purpose of simulating a wisp or 

 shock of leaves' lodged among the boughs, or be- 

 cause the color of them harmonizes so nicely with 

 her own, thereby lessening the chances of being 

 seen. The quite deep, well-made cavity is up- 

 holstered with fine grasses and roots, which give 

 it a certain springy, elastic nature, necessary for 

 the prosperity of the e§gs and comfort of the nest- 



