composition, would have been exceedingly conspicuous.” Often the nest is placed beside a log, among the 
loots of a tree, or at the foot of a sapling, usually in the deepest, dampest woods, along streams, about 
the border of ponds, and in similar places. 
POSITION : 
It is generally placed in a little depression on the ground, but sometimes, as when among the roots 
of an overturned tree, it is several feet high. 
MATERIALS : 
1 he materials of construction are leaves, grasses, weed-stems, and similar coarse vegetable materials 
for the foundation and superstructure, and due fibrous roots for a lining. The nest referred to above, 
taken by Mr. Win. Brewster, is described as follows: “The nest which is before me, is exceedingly large 
and bulky, measuring externally 3.50 inches in diameter by 8 inches in length, and 3.50 inches in depth. 
Its outer wall, a solid mass of soggy dead leaves, plastered tightly together by the mud adhering to 
theii suifaces, rises in the form of a rounded parapet, the outer edge of which was nicely graduated to 
conform to the edge of the earthy bank in which it was placed. In one corner of this mass, and well 
back, is the nest proper, a neatly rounded, cup-sliaped hollow, measuring 2.50 inches in depth. The inner 
nest is composed of small twigs and green mosses, with a lining of dry grasses and a few hairs of squirrels 
or other animals arranged circularly.” 
EGGS:. 
The complement of eggs is four or five, usually the former number. They are white, blotched, 
spotted, and speckled with faint reddish-brown; deep shell-marks appearing blue-gray. The commonest 
type of these eggs is blotched, spotted, and speckled with faint reddish-brown chiefly about the basal 
third of the shell ; the remaining two-thirds being sparingly spotted and speckled. Another pattern 
has a well defined wreath about the crown composed of confluent blotches, spots, and speckles of a darker 
shade of the same brown, while the remainder of the egg is blotched or speckled here and there with a 
much lighter shade. A third egg is irregularly marked from point to base with bold blotches, spots, and 
speckles. In long-diameter they measure from .69 to .79, and in short-diameter from .58 to .62; a com- 
mon size is about .75 x .60. 
DIFFERENTIAL POINTS : 
See table. 
REMARKS : 
Plate LXYIII, Pig. 4, represents three eggs of the Large-billed Water Thrush. -They were selected 
from the specimens in National Museum, and are believed to represent the common variations which 
occur, the middle egg being the pattern most frequently seen. 
I have never seen the Large-billed Water Thrush except in the spring, and therefore have been 
compelled to compile this article from the writings of those who have been more fortunate. 
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