78 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the perfect concealment. A tiny tree and one or two bush shoots grew from 

 the tussock, close to the nest and this feature was typical of the greater number 

 of the nests found. 



They give the measurements of four nests; the outside diameter 

 varied from 3 to 4 inches, the inside diameter from 1% to 2 inches, the 

 outside depth from 2 to 3i^, and the inside depth from I14 to 1^^ 

 inches. Wliat nests I have seen, in collections, all appeared much 

 flatter than the above measurements indicate, but they were probably 

 flattened in transit. All that I have seen seemed to consist entirely 

 of very light, straw-colored grass rather lightly arranged. Some 

 observers mention moss in the composition of the nest, but the nests 

 are evidently made in the moss and not of it. 



Dr. Paul Harrington mentions in his contributed notes four nests 

 that he found near Sudbury, Ontario : "The nests were all similarly 

 situated in a clump or mound of sphagnum, well arched so that to 

 obtain a full view of the nest it was necessary to part the sphagnum, 

 in shaded areas on the borders of black spruce bogs. These, and 

 others I have examined, have always been constructed entirely of fine 

 straw-colored grasses, whereas in those of the Nashville warbler a few 

 hairs or gold-threads were generally incorporated in the structure." 



Philipp and Bowdish (1919) record in a later paper the finding of 

 a number of additional nests in New Brunswick, and say : "The ex- 

 perience of the past two years has demonstrated that while the boggy 

 ground nesting, previously described, is the really typical and by far 

 the most common form, not a few of these birds nest on higher and 

 dryer ground. One such nest, found June 24, 1918, was well up on 

 a steep hillside, in rather open woods, on fairly dry ground, utterly 

 devoid of moss and grass cover. It was built among a thick growth 

 of dwarf dogwood, and under a tiny, crooked stemmed maple sapling, 

 very well concealed, and was rather more substantially built than the 

 average nest of this species." 



The nesting history of the Tennessee warbler would not be com- 

 plete without mentioning two authentic records made in 1901. J. 

 Parker Norris, Jr. (1902), reported receipt of a set of four eggs, 

 collected by Major Allan Brooks on June 15, 1901, at Carpenter 

 Mountain, Cariboo, British Columbia. This is apparently the first 

 authentic set of eggs ever taken, as those mentioned above by Professor 

 Cooke were taken a few days later. In this far western locality, the 

 birds "generally frequented the clumps of aspen trees and Norway 

 pines, where the ground was covered with a thick growth of dry 

 pine grass." Major Brooks found several other nests in the same 

 locality, and says in his notes : "The nests were always on the ground, 

 sometimes at the foot of a small service berry bush or twig. They 

 were all arched over by the dry pine grass of the preceding year, 

 this year's growth having just well commenced." 



