48 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



any part of the Cambridge Kegion before the year just mentioned, it 

 was overlooked by several keen and diligent collectors, among whom 

 may be mentioned Mr. H. W. Henshaw and Mr. Euthven Deane." 

 Since that time the bird has increased in numbers here until at present 

 it is common in suitable localities. 



/Spring. — The goldenwing appears in eastern Massachusetts about 

 the middle of May, or sometimes a little earlier, at the time when many 

 of the resident warblers are arriving on their breeding-grounds. At 

 this season the bright green leaves are beginning to open in the 

 thickets and trees on the borders of woodlands where the goldenwing 

 finds its food ; and under the trees in the wooded swamps where the 

 bird will build its nest, fresh new growth — skunkcabbage, ferns, and 

 a host of spring plants — is pushing through the dead leaves, spreading 

 a green carpet on the forest floor. But even thus early in the year, 

 when the trees are nearly bare, it is not easy to see as it feeds high 

 up in the trees, far out near the tips of the branches. Indeed, but for 

 its queer little song, we should rarely suspect that it had come back to 

 its summer home. 



Nesting. — The golden-winged warbler builds its nest on the gi'ound, 

 generally raised somewhat by a substratum of dead leaves. The nest 

 is supported by stalks of herbs — often goldenrod or meadow rue — 

 or by fern fronds, or it may be hidden deep in a clump of grass, or 

 it may lean against the base of a small shrub or tree with grass all 

 about it. The leaves above the nest develop as the season advances 

 and soon completely conceal it, and the plants, by their growth, may 

 raise the nest a little above the ground. The cup of the nest is made 

 chiefly of long strands of dry grass and narrow strips of grapevine 

 bark, with a few hairs in the lining. This fine, flexible material is 

 pressed down on the inside by the weight of the incubating bird and 

 the nestlings, becoming smooth and firm like a mat, whereas on the 

 outside wall the long grass blades and fibrous vegetable shreds are 

 left free and, protruding loosely in all directions for some distance 

 from the cup, produce a disorderly, unkempt appearance, like a little 

 loose handful of fine hay. 



Edward H. Forbush (1929) quotes an account of the goldenwing 

 by Horace O. Green who has had an extensive experience with the 

 species and who gives the following interesting details of the con- 

 struction of the nest : 



The uest of the Golden-wing usually has a bottom layer of coarse dead leaves 

 on which is placed a ring of large dry leaves, arranged with the points of the 

 leaves downward, so that the leaf stems stick up noticeably around the edges 

 of the nest proper, which is built within and upon this circular mass of leaves, 

 and is made of rather wide strips of coarse grass or rushes, and usually has con- 

 siderable grape vine bark interwoven in it. The nest lining is coarse and rough, 

 sometimes the eggs being laid on the rough grape vine bark, and in some nests 



