Nesting of Golden-crowned Thrush. 
[QLOGIST 
[Vol. 14-JSTo. 6 
Nesting of the Oven-bird. 
The Oven-bird ( Seiurus aurocapillus) is a 
common summer resident in Chester county, 
Penn., arriving about the last week in April, 
and, as a rule, making its home in the denser 
parts of the woods. 
On the twenty-sixth of May, 1888, while 
tramping through a wood bordering on a 
creek, I happened to see an unfinished nest on 
the ground, which attracted my attention. It 
was on a steep hillside facing the North, and 
not more than one hundred yards from the 
road. The nest was then simply a mass of 
dry chestnut leaves and grass and looked much 
like an old one. 
On June 6tli I again visited the nest, which 
now contained four eggs, including that of a 
Cowbird. Although I waited probably half 
an hour in the vicinity of the nest, the birds 
did not put in their appearance, and I was un- 
able to determine to what bird the eggs be- 
longed. Three days later, June Otli, I again 
went to look at the nest, which still contained 
but four eggs, including the Cowbird’s. The 
bird was in the vicinity of the nest when I 
reached it, and I recognized it as the Golden- 
crowned Thrush, or Oven-bird. I sat down 
upon a fallen tree trunk near by to watch it, 
and soon it began to approach the nest, making 
a circle around it. Had I not known its loea- 
cation previously, it would not have been a very 
difficult matter to discover it then. 
Upon blowing the eggs, I found that incuba- 
tion had begun in all of them, thus showing 
that the bird had ceased laying. The Cow- 
bird’s egg seemed to be more fully developed 
than those of the Oven-bird. The spots on the 
eggs were a rich lavender and brown, and 
chiefly in a ring around the larger end. The 
nest was composed of chestnut leaves, grass, 
a few stems of the “maiden-liair” fern, and 
lined with a little horse-hair. It was domed 
over, and was quite bulky. 
Willard L. Maris. I 
West Chester, Pa. 
O & 0 . XIV. June. 1889 
BY LYNPS JONES, GRINNEhL, IOWA. 
• 
When my first report on bird migration was 
forwarded to Prof. W. W. Cooke I was not a 
little surprised that lie should have had doubts 
regarding the breeding of the Golden-crowned 
Thrush ( Stunts aurkapillus ) near Grinnell, 
since it is one of our common breeders. I be- 
lieve that he accounted for what seemed a 
remarkable circumstance, that Accentor should 
breed here, by saying that this must be a south- 
ern continuation of the Spirit Lake Region, long 
noted for the large number of northern breeders 
nesting there. Whether or not this be true I 
do not know; but I do know that Slims is quite 
common in woods throughout this region during 
the whole summer season. 
Although it arrives hereabout May 1st in full 
I song, it does not nest until the 20th. Perhaps 
J there is some difficulty getting mated! The 
earliest date of taking a nest with fresh eggs 
(full sotj was May 21th, and latest with slightly 
addled eggs June 20 ; this is probably a late date 
since its song is seldom heard of in July 4t,li. 
Although the birds are so common the nests 
, are by no means easy to find. At first I supposed 
the nest was always placed close to the foot of 
a tree, having found two or three in that posi- 
tion, but I find that such is not the case usually ; 
rather independent of tree or bush or a wooded 
hillside, but always where the natural surroun- 
dings are most favorable for concealment. The 
composition of the nest varies with the surroun- 
dings, as hinted above. If it be a grassy spot, 
grass is used almost exclusively, if leaves lie 
thickly scattered about, they are freely used. 
( especially externally, while a brown colored 
moss and skeleton leaves, with a few rootlets 
and horse hair, make up the lining. 
Every nest yet found has been sunken into the 
earth an inch or more, and always arched over 
leaving the small opening on the downhill side. 
The mother bird sits very closely, leaving the 
nest only when one comes very close, and then 
she glides off like a squirrel, and is not readily 
recognized. 
An egg before me, collected here, one of a set 
of four, the other three being eggs of Cowbird 
( Molothas a iter ) has a white ground color and is 
pretty evenly marked all over with dots, spots 
and blotches of a light brown, with a wreath 
about the large end of a lilac and lavender shell 
markings, making the egg appear more heavily 
marked iu a wreath about the large end; it 
measures .75 x.00. 
e is quite different : The ground 
|isli white, and the markings are 
I confined to the large end where 
they become confluent and hide the ground 
color, not iu a wreath but as a great blotch. 
These markings are lilac and lavender with a 
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