26 Joint Bulletin 7 



largely to Bicknell's and olive-backed thrushes, juncoes, myrtle, black- 

 jioll and Nashville warblers, chickadees, white-throated sparrows, 

 and brown creepers. It was the first named birds that we were 

 chiefly interested in, so we went at once to the dark evergreen thickets, 

 where we frequently heard the call and, less often, the peculiar song 

 of the Bicknell's coming out of the fog. 



Half a day's search was rewarded with the finding of five occupied 

 nests and one deserted one, containing addled eggs. The contents of 

 these nests ranged from one fresh egg to a full set of four that had been 

 incubated about a week, showing considerable variation in the nesting 

 habits of different pairs of birds on the same site. With the exception 

 of one nest, which was in greatly stunted spruces on a ledge and only 

 three feet from the ground, the homes of these thrushes were seven to 

 nine feet from the ground. Each occupied a similar position in the 

 peak of a small evergreen. 



The similarity of the nests, with one exception, was striking. They 

 were compactly built, which gave them the appearance of being smaller 

 than the other thrushes, and the lining of black rootlets in one was just 

 like any of the others. The body of the nest was made up of grasses 

 and fine twigs, but in each instance these were covered over on the out- 

 side with a moss, Hypnum shreheri, although many other kinds of 

 mosses grew abundantly about. 



The one nest which varied greatly from the others resembled those 

 of the olive-backed thrush in that it was more grassy on the outside 

 and more loosely constructed than those of the Bicknell's thrushes. 

 The eggs, too, in the spotting, were nearer to Swainsoni than Bicknelli, 

 and the background was lighter, as in the olive-back's eggs. The bird 

 was collected to make sure of the identification. 



Another interesting nest, which was found on this trip, was one of 

 a blackpoll warbler, which was out on the end of a limb, five and a half 

 feet from the trunk of a tree, instead of being near the bole, as is usual. 

 This was in a large tree, the blackpoll generally selecting small ones 

 at this place. 



A white-throated sparrow nesting at 3,700 feet altitude, and a 

 slate colored junco with a set of five eggs instead of the almost invari- 

 able four, were other interesting discoveries of the day on Vermont's 

 skyline. 



