KENTUCKY WARBLER 507 



the nest, the female came near the nest with tempting food, but would 

 not feed the crying young until she had persuaded them to leave. 

 After that they were fed by both parents for as much as 17 days. At 

 other nests, he found incubation to last 13 days, and the young were 

 nest-fed 8i/^ days. 



Mr. Burns (Chapman, 1907) says that "the eyes of the young are 

 opened on the fifth day and in two instances birds left the nest on 

 the eighth day. If the too inquisitive observer is noticed lurking 

 around, the female will frequently drive the young from the nest pre- 

 maturely. The male, while protesting vigorously, seldom approaches 

 as closely as the female." 



Dr. Skutch (MS.) relates the following interesting experience: 

 "At about noon on June 16, 1934, while following up a small rivulet 

 flowing through an extensive woodland in Baltimore County, Md., I 

 entered a low, swampy area surrounding the channel, almost devoid 

 of trees, but overgrown with spice-bush and skunk cabbage. As I 

 came into this natural clearing, a pair of Kentucky warblers flitted 

 nervously about, uttering loud, full chirps. I suspected they had a 

 nest in the low ground, and stood quietly at one side, hoping that they 

 would eventually reveal its location to me. After a period of excited 

 chirping, one of them found a larva and flew with it to the far side 

 of the opening. After hesitating a minute or so, it flew down and 

 disappeared among the herbage with its burden. I crossed the swamp 

 and began to search among the skunk cabbages and sedges in the spot 

 where the parent had disappeared. When I had gone beyond the area 

 where I expected to find the nest — the parents meanwhile flitting ex- 

 citedly around me — I was brought suddenly to a halt by a loud 

 explosion of small bird voices that seemed to arise from my very 

 feet. Looking downward, I beheld three or four little olive birds 

 hopping rapidly away in as many directions, while the parents were 

 driven to renewed chirping and excitement. Not two inches from my 

 right foot was the nest, now entirely deserted, a bulky open cup of 

 dead leaves lined with fibrous material. It rested upon the ground 

 at the base of a skunk cabbage plant at the edge of the swamp. 



"I pursued one of the little birds, who tried to escape by hopping, 

 and finally capturing it, found that it bore little resemblance to its 

 parents. * * * Meanwhile one of the parents, probably the 

 mother, crept slowly and painfully over the ground at a safe distance 

 from me, dragging her relaxed wings and her tail; while the other 

 flitted about holding in his bill a larva which he was too excited to 

 deliver to a youngster." 



Plumages. — Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage of 

 the Kentucky warbler, in which the sexes are alike, as "above, includ- 

 ing sides of head rich olive-brown. Wings and tail rather darker. 



