SOUTHERN MacGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER 535 



Gabrielson and Jewett (1940) say : "In western Oregon, it frequents 

 the blackberry patches and dense thickets of S'piraea or Salal^ and in the 

 eastern part of the State, it is equally at home in the dense growth of 

 willow about the springs and along the stream bottoms." 



Dawson (1923) says of its California haunts : "Brushy hillsides not 

 too remote from water, or dense shrubbery partially shaded by trees, 

 afford ideal cover for this handsome warbler and his all but invisible 

 spouse. Mere chaparral will not do either, for the bird loves mois- 

 ture, and a certain tang in the atmosphere, found in California in the 

 humid coastal counties and on the middle levels of the northern Sier- 

 ras. Variety, also, is his delight; and after temperature, variety in 

 cover seems to be the bird's requirement; and a great confusion of 

 shrubs, willow, alder, ceanothus, chokecherry, serviceberry, chinqua- 

 pin, or mountain mahogany suits him best." 



Mrs. Amelia S. Allen writes to me: "About 500 feet beyond our 

 house in Strawberry Canyon in Berkeley, Calif., there is a little draw, 

 running down an oak-covered north slope, in which are many thimble- 

 berries, trilliums, ferns, and brakes. It is occupied each summer by a 

 pair of Tolmie warblers, and I hear their notes from my bedroom 

 window. I always expect to hear it on the seventh of April. In 1940, 

 it was singing on April 2, and I have a few firsts on the fourth, sixth, 

 and eighth. A walk up the canyon the second week of April usually 

 shows four or five singing males, each one in its regular location year 

 after year." 



Nesting. — Rathbun has sent me his notes on several nests of Mac- 

 Gillivray's warbler found near Seattle, Wash., all of which were built 

 in salal bushes at heights varying from 2 to 3 feet above the ground. 

 One was "on a somewhat open side-hill not far from an old path. It 

 was very much concealed, and found only by carefully examining 

 each bit of growth thoroughly." Another was "near an old path 

 running through a somewhat open spot in a forest, overgrown with 

 salal shrubs, the ground being littered with old logs above which 

 many of these shrubs thrust their tops" ; it was quite plainly seen as he 

 stood on one of the logs. He describes a third as follows : "The loca- 

 tion of this nest was in a small clearing on a rather open hillside with 

 scattered second growth, mostly of small firs, with stunted salal 

 shrubs growing about. In one of these latter the nest was built about 

 a foot above the ground and quite plainly to be seen, having the ap- 

 pearance of an old nest, apparently because it was so carelessly con- 

 structed. It was outwardly composed of dry weed-stalks, next to 

 which were finer weed-stalks and straws; the lining was of soft dry 

 grasses, fine rootlets, and a few horsehairs. On the top of the nest, 

 effectually concealing the eggs from view, was placed a dead salal 

 leaf, its point and the end of its stem being lightly caught just under 



