Wilson’s thrush, or veery. 351 
ously contending ; one of them used a plaintive and 
angry tone as he chased his antagonist up and down 
the tree ; at length, however, a cousin Cat-bird, to which 
this species has some affinity, stept in betwixt the com- 
batants, and they soon parted. One of these birds had 
a nest and mate in the gooseberry bush of a neighbour- 
ing garden ; the second bird was thus a dissatisfied her- 
mit, and spent many weeks in the Botanic Garden, 
where, though at times sad and solitary, yet he constantly 
amused us with his forlorn song, and seemed at last, as 
it were, acquainted with those who whistled for him, 
peeping out of the bushes with a sort of complaisant cu- 
riosity, and from his almost nocturnal habits became a 
great persecutor of the assassin Owl, whenever he dared 
to make his appearance. 
The nest of Wilson’s Thrush (commenced about the 
close of the first week in May) is usually in a low and 
thorny bush, in the darkest part of the forest, at no great 
distance from the ground (1 to 3 feet), sometimes indeed 
on the earth, but raised by a bed of leaves, and greatly 
resembles that of the Cat-bird. This species seems, 
indeed, for security artfully to depend on the resemblance 
of itself and its leafy nest with the bosom of the forest on 
which it rests, and when approached it sits so close as 
nearly to admit of being taken up by the hand. The 
nest sometimes appears without any shelter but shade 
and association of colors with the place on which it rests. 
I have seen one placed on a mass of prostrated dead 
brambles ; on a fallen heap of lilac twigs in a ravine ; and 
also in a small withered branch of red oak, which had 
fallen into a bush ; below, it was also bedded with exactly 
similar leaves, so as easily to deceive the eye. But with 
all these precautions they appear to lose many eggs and 
young by squirrels and other animals. The nest is usu- 
