1904] Nesting of Some Canadian Warblers. 69 



identity as a female mourning warbler, for parting- the canes and 

 viewing the nest I found it contained four beautiful fresh eggs; but I 

 inferred that the set was complete and incubation begun. The 

 general color of these eggs was white, with a rosy blush, but less 

 dotted with reddish brown spots than have been other sets of the 

 eggs of this species previously observed. 



Since the early years of our family settlement in the township 

 of Peel, I had been acquainted with the appearance of this species, 

 and acquired some knowledge of its life-habits, for it was almost 

 the only member of its family that made its summer home amid 

 the thick brush-wood, and partly cleared spaces along the banks 

 of the little meandering stream that intersected the homestead 

 farm where I passed my boyhood years, and in those early days 

 of our pioneer life in the Canadian back-woods, it was known to 

 me as "the linnet" for some of the elder members of our family 

 stated that it resembled a little bird called by that name in our 

 native land, and during those early times I often saw its nesting 

 places, but of these I have know only dim recollections. During 

 my nine years residence in North Wallace I failed to identify this 

 species among the avifauna of that section; though I noted several 

 other members of this family that to me were previously unknown. 

 After coming to Listowel in the spring of 1874, and devoting 

 more time and attention to the life-histories of our birds, I soon 

 again recognized my old friend of by-gone years, but for a time I 

 confounded it with another species. In this vicinity I found the 

 mourning warbler to be a tolerably common summer resident, 

 but its presence is usually confined to the margins of certain low- 

 land woods; and one June-time day when investigating the avi 

 faunian life of a certain tract of forest, to the southwards of the 

 town, our dog flushed a female of this species, which from her 

 notes and excited actions, I inferred had a nest near by; but which 

 at the time I failed to find. Returning some hours afterwards the 

 bird was again flushed, and after a little search, the nest contain- 

 ing five eggs, was found. This was placed in the butt end of a 

 cedar tree that had been uprooted, but from which the earth had 

 fallen away, the site being about eighteen inches above the ground; 

 this nest was a bulky affair, and loosely put together; being com- 

 posed of dry leaves, weed stems, vines, rootlets and lined with 



