138 BULLETIN 2 03, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Nesting. — The nests of the northern pariila warbler that we used 

 to find in southern Massachusetts were all located in haunts similar 

 to those described, and mostly in old orchards heavily festooned with 

 beard moss (Usnea). We could usually find three to five nests 

 in a well-populated orchard, but they were so well hidden in the hang- 

 ing moss that we may have overlooked some. A casual observer would 

 never notice one, but with practice we learned to recognize a rounded, 

 cuplike, thick place in a bunch of Usnea as indicating a nest. The nests 

 were usually made in bunches of moss that hung from horizontal or 

 sloping branches and were from 5 to 15 feet above the ground, more 

 being below than above 12 feet. Some nests were in red cedars, or 

 savins {Juniperus virginiana), scattered among other trees or grow- 

 ing in open stands by themselves; they were located in bunches of 

 Usnea close to the center of the tree and often within reach from the 

 ground. Occasionally, isolated trees on the edges of swamps or on 

 the shores of ponds were sufficiently covered with the lichen to con- 

 tain nests, and these were sometimes as much as 20 feet above the 

 ground. The nearest approach to a colony that I ever found was in 

 a small cedar swamp, not over an acre in extent, that jutted out from 

 the shore of a lake into rather deep water. 



The white cedars {Chamaecyparis thinjoides) were growing in 

 water that was waist deep or more in places, and the whole place was 

 so obstructed with fallen trees and sunken snags that it was very 

 difficult to explore thoroughly ; I managed to find some half a dozen 

 nests, and there may have been others, for many of the trees were 

 well "bearded." 



The nests that we have found have all been very simple affairs, 

 apparently merely pockets hollowed out in bunches of hanging Usnea^ 

 with side entrances slightly above the cups. Some nests were small 

 and suspended only 2 or 3 inches below the supporting branch, prac- 

 tically open baskets accessible from directly above ; others were found 

 in long, thick bunches, a foot or more in length, with long streamers 

 hanging below the nest. External measurements were therefore quite 

 variable. Many of the nests were unlined, save with a soft bed of 

 fine shreds of Usnea; some were scantily lined with a few pieces of 

 fine grass, two or three pine needles, one or two horsehairs, or a few 

 bits of buff-colored down from the stems of ferns ; rarely, a nest was 

 more elaborately lined with the latter material but never as profusely 

 as are the nests of other wood warblers. 



Apparently the nests were also difficult to find in Connecticut; 

 "J. M. W." (C. L. Rawson, 1888), who has probably taken more eggs 

 of the blue yellow-backed warbler than any other man, says that the 

 older ornithologists did not realize "that the three Southern New 

 England States were about the centre of its breeding range," until he 



