352 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
ally bottomed with dry oak or beech leaves, coarse stalks 
of grass and weeds, and lined very generally with natur- 
ally dissected foliage, i s stalks, some fine grass, and, 
at other times, a mixture of root-fibres ; but no earth is 
employed in the fabric. The eggs, 4 or 5, are of an em- 
erald green, without spots, and differ from those of the 
Cat-bird only in being a little smaller and more inclined 
to blue. So shy is the species, that though I feigned a 
violent chirping near the nest containing their young, 
which brought Sparrows, and a neighbouring Baltimore 
to the rescue, the parents, peeping at a distance, did not 
venture to approach, or even express any marked con- 
cern, though they prove very watchful guardians when 
their brood are fledged and with them in the woods. 
They have commonly two broods in the season ; the sec- 
ond being raised about the middle of July ; after which 
their musical notes are but seldom heard. I afterwards, 
by an accident, obtained a young fledged bird, which re- 
tained in the cage the unsocial and silent timidity pe- 
culiar to the species. 
Wilson’s Thrush is about 7 inches long, and 12 in alar extent. 
Above, of an uniform tawny-brown. Beneath white; the sides of 
the breast and under the wings, slightly tinged with ash-color ; chin 
white ; throat and upper part of the breast cream-color, marked with 
pointed spots of brown. The tail nearly even, the shafts, as well as 
those of the wing-quills, continued a little beyond their webs. Bill 
black above, below flesh-colored at base. Iris dark. Legs slender, 
pale brown. 
Subgenus. — Seiurus. (Genus Seiurus, Swainson.) 
Bill scarcely depressed at base, and with the bristles at the open- 
ing of the mouth scarcely visible. — The two species here associated 
have little affinity in character and habit ; they are however insep- 
arable from the true Thrushes, and are rather remarkable for the 
