146 The Ottawa Naturalist, [October 



appeared like that of a chipping sparrow, but when the bird 

 flushed off" on my near approach, and from a position on a branch 

 near by watched my movements, shifting uneasily and uttering a 

 few "chip"-like notes, I carefully noted her plumage and became 

 certain of her identity as a female myrtle warbler. 



This nest contained four eggs, quite fresh, though the bird 

 had begun to incubate, and these, with the nest, are still (1902) in 

 my collection. The ground colour of these eggs is a clear white 

 clouded with a wreath of reddish-brown on the larger end, but there 

 is scarcely a dot on the rest of the surface. The nest itself was 

 composed of stalks of dry weeds, fibres of bark, rootlets and hair 

 from the tails of horses or cattle. Near by, in another low bal- 

 sam, was an old nest of the same species which had doubtless 

 been occupied the previous year. The next summer I saw another 

 complete nest of this species, but it contained no eggs. This was 

 placed in the top of a small bushy blue-beech underwood, five or 

 six feet high, and situated in a piece of swampy bush land. Snce 

 then I have noted this species only as a spring and autumn 

 migrant, though I believe that some of them still nest in the 

 swampy woods of this vicinity. Some of the species are occasion- 

 ally noted here as late as the last week of October. The myrtle 

 warbler is found to be an abundant summer resident of British 

 Columbia, but as yet has been found chiefly to the west of the 

 Cascade range of mountains. Like all the other species of the 

 warblers it has its particular haunts and home, especially in the 

 nesting period, and the student of avifaunian life who desires to 

 examine the nest and eggs of this species in a state of nature, 

 will be much assisted in the accomplishment of that object by a 

 previous knowledge of the habits of the bird. Deep, high- 

 timbered forests, rolling prairies, opt-n woods, and the surround- 

 ings of human habitations, though occasionally visited, are not 

 selected by this bird for a summer home or a nesting-place ; but 

 where the muddy brook wends its slow course throLigh a brush- 

 wood dell, in swampy thickets, near stagnant pools, where there 

 is an intermingling of various species of soft woods with ever- 

 greens, are the places most likely to be affected in the nesting 

 period by the presence of this bird, and many such places exist in 

 the valleys and among the foothills of the southwestern portion of 



