NORTHERN PINE WARBLER 409 



the winter months they seem to be as much at home in the deciduous 

 trees as among the pines, often visiting the orchards and lowland 

 thickets." Frederick V. Hebard tells me that in the Southern States 

 it shows a decided preference for the longer-leafed pines. 



Spring. — The pine warbler is one of the few North American wood 

 warblers whose winter ranges include much of their breeding range ; 

 hence its migrations are not much in evidence, except in the northern 

 part of its summer home. West of the Mississippi Valley and in 

 the Great Plains region, where pine woods are scarce or absent, it 

 occurs only as a migrant on its way to the northern pine forests. In 

 the southeastern States it is present at all seasons, and it is an abun- 

 dant migrant east of the Alleghenies, northward to New England 

 and southern Canada. It begins to migrate from the northern bound- 

 ary of its winter range during the last week in March or earlier and 

 passes through New England mainly in April. In Massachusetts 

 we regard it as about the earliest of our warblers, usually appearing 

 in advance of the yellow palm or the myrtle warbler; we can always 

 expect it early in April and occasionally before the end of March. 

 As soon as the warm spring sun brings out the fragrance of the pine 

 needles, and the first pink blossoms of the trailing arbutus are peek- 

 ing out from under their winter covering, we may breathe the delight- 

 ful odors of the pine barrens, listen to the simple trills of the pine 

 warblers among the treetops, and look for the first of the hermit 

 thrushes in the scrub oaks. 



Nesting. — My experience with the nesting of the northern pine 

 warbler is limited to the finding of a few nests in southeastern Massa- 

 chusetts. These nests have always been in pitch pines in the dry, 

 sandy pine barrens of Plymouth and Barnstable Counties; I have 

 heard the birds singing in isolated groves of these pines elsewhere 

 but have never happened to find a nest there. The nests I have seen 

 have been placed on horizontal branches at heights varying from 10 

 to 25 feet above ground, for the trees are seldom very tall ; a favorite 

 site seems to be on a branch overhanging a road or path. They were 

 usually well concealed in a cluster of pine needles, but were some- 

 times in plain sight from the road. The nests are well made and 

 compact; and are usually warmly lined with small feathers, as the 

 birds are early nesters; one especially pretty nest was beautifully 

 lined with bluebird feathers. 



Forbush (1929) describes the nests as made "of weed-stems, bark- 

 strips, pine needles, pine twigs, caterpillars' or spiders' webs or simi- 

 lar material; lined with pine needles, fern-down, hair, bristles, or 

 feathers." Nuttall (1832) found a nest of this warbler near Mount 

 Auburn in eastern Massachusetts that was about 40 feet from the 

 ground in a Virginia juniper, or red cedar; "it was firmly fixed in 



