CERULEAN WARBLER 331 



30 and 35 feet from the gi'ound, and four in basswoods (lindens), 

 from 17 to 50 feet above ground. He gives the measurements of three 

 nests; they measured externally from 1% to 2 inches in height and 

 2% inches in diameter; internally they varied from Vg to 1 inch in 

 depth and from U/g to 1% inches in diameter. He remarks: "A 

 feature that interested me very much was the extreme shallowness 

 of the nests ; all the other warblers with which I am acquainted build- 

 ing a comparatively deep nest, and the query arises, Does the bird 

 build a shallow nest because it places it on a substantial limb, or does 

 it place it on a substantial limb because its nests are shallow ? The 

 attachment of the nest, also, is exceedingly frail, and I am inclined 

 to think that few of these nests would remain in position long after 

 the young had left." 



A nest found by Kirkwood (1901) in Baltimore County, Md., is 

 described as follows: "The nest is made of brown bark fibre, with 

 some fine grass stems among it, and is finished inside with a few black 

 horse-hairs. Outside it is finished with gray shreds of bark, spider 

 web, and a few small fragments of newspaper that had been water- 

 soaked. * * * ^s the branch sloped, one part of the rim is within 

 % of an inch of it, while the opposite part is 1% inches above it, the 

 material comes down on one side of branch to 2^4 inches below the 

 rim. On this side a tiny twig arches out from branch and extending 

 to the rim is embedded in the nest, and the leaves which grew from its 

 top shaded the nest." The nest was 48 feet and 6 inches up from the 

 ground and 15 feet out from the trunk of a tulip tree, with no other 

 limb between it and the ground. 



A neat little nest before me is made of materials similar to those 

 mentioned. It is lined with the reddish brown flowering stems of 

 mosses smoothly woven with other very fine brownish fibres into a 

 compact rim, and it is decorated externally with various brown and 

 gray lichens and mosses. Other nests have been reported in sycamores, 

 beeches, rock maples, sugar maples, and white oaks. 



Eggs. — The cerulean warbler lays from 3 to 5 eggs, usually 4. They 

 are ovate to short ovate and have a slight luster. The ground color is 

 grayish white, creamy white, or even very pale greenish white, and 

 they are speckled, spotted or blotched with "bay," "chestnut," or 

 "auburn," intermingled with spots of "light brownish drab," or 

 "brownish drab." Some eggs have spots scattered all over the sur- 

 face, but usually they are concentrated at the large end, where a loose 

 wreath is formed. Generally the eggs are finely marked, but occa- 

 sionally are quite heavily blotched. The measurements of 50 eggs 

 average 17.0 by 13.0 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 17.9 by 13.0, 17.0 by 13.7, 16.0 by 12.4, and 17.2 by 12.0 

 millimeters (Harris). 



