LUCY'S WARBLER 131 



The nests were small and compact and well hidden In their cavity. Only 

 twice did protruding material betray the location. In one case nesting material 

 protruded from a woodpecker hole, and the other was a bulky nest that showed 

 from each side of a split branch. This last nest I thought must belong to a 

 House Finch, but investigation showed warbler ownership. Nests were made 

 of bark, weeds, and mesquite leaf-stems, and lined with fine bark, horse and 

 cow hair, a few feathers and sometimes a little rabbit fur. The site averaged 

 six and one-half feet from the ground, the lowest being 18 inches and the 

 highest 15 feet. * * * 



In nest-building the female seems to do all the work, her mate sometimes 

 accompanying her on trips to and from the tree, but more frequently flitting 

 about the tops of adjacent trees, occasionally uttering his little warble. One 

 pair I watcht had a nest in a Texas Woodpecker hole in a palo verde tree about 

 15 feet from the ground. The female brought material to the nest three times 

 in two minutes, then a seven minute interval, followed by two trips in three 

 minutes. The male accompanied her on two trips then made himself scarce. 

 He indulged in no singing and both birds were silent, tho in many cases one 

 or both gave the call note at intervals. 



Others have mentioned nests of Lucy's warblers in verdins' nests, 

 probably all old winter nests of the male verdin, relined to suit the 

 warbler. O. W. Howard (1899) records such a nest and adds : "Other 

 nests were placed in crevices along river banks where roots of trees 

 were sticking out and one or two were found in natural cavities of the 

 Giant Cactus, or in woodpecker holes therein." We found a nest with 

 young in a cavity in the bleached skeleton of a fallen giant cactus, 

 where I set up my camera and took several photographs of the bird 

 feeding the young. A very pretty nest of this warbler is in the Thayer 

 collection in Cambridge; it was evidently built in the fork of a mes- 

 quite limb, supported by a cluster of old and fresh, green twigs ; it is 

 made externally of the leaves, petioles, fine green twigs, and flower 

 clusters of the mesquite and is decorated with a few feathers of the 

 white-winged dove ; it is lined internally with fine fibers, white cows' 

 hair and black horsehair, and more dove feathers ; it measures 4 by 3 

 inches in outside diameter and 2 by V/s inside ; the outside height is 

 nearly 3 inches, and the inside cup is about 1% inches deep. A set 

 in my collection was taken from a hole 3 feet above the base of a 

 sandy bank along a wash near the San Pedro River, in Arizona. 



Eggs. — Lucy's warbler lays from 3 to 7 eggs, but the set usually 

 consists of 4 or 5; the larger sets are rare, but O. W. Howard has 

 found two sets of 7, and several sets of 6 have been recorded. The 

 eggs are ovate to short ovate and have very little lustre. The white 

 or creamy white ground color is finely speckled with shades of "chest- 

 nut," "bay," or "auburn." The eggs that have markings in the darker 

 shades of "chestnut" and "bay" frequently have a scattering of 

 minute spots of "brownish drab" that are often lacking on eggs with 

 the lighter markings of "auburn." The spots are usually concen- 



