516 BULLETIN 2 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



strips and vine stems, and was lined with fine fibres and horsehair. 

 It was completely hidden and was attached to rose bush canes 6 inches 

 from the ground." 



Mr. Harlow now tells that, up to 1926, he has found 8 nests of the 

 Connecticut warbler, 2 sets of 3 eggs, 5 sets of 4, and 1 set of 5 eggs, 

 all in the vicinity of Belvedere. What he describes in his notes as a 

 typical nest was found in open poplar woods on a ridge above a small 

 slough, surrounded by a growth of willows, into which the female 

 always went when flushed. The nest was at the base of a small, spread- 

 ing wild rose bush, well under the spreading lower branches, entirely 

 concealed, well sunken in a scratch in the ground, and draped about 

 by fine, dead grass. He describes the nest as much more frail than 

 that of the mourning warbler and made of fine grasses and plant 

 fibres. 



According to Dr. Roberts (1936) and several other observers, for 

 which he gives the references, the Connecticut warbler, in Minnesota, 

 always nests in spruce or tamarack bogs, in sphagnum moss or among 

 other northern bog vegetation. One of the best accounts for this re- 

 gion is given by N. L. Huff (1929). He describes a swamp in Aitkin 

 County, northern Minnesota, in which he found this warbler breed- 

 ing, as follows : 



This swamp is perhaps half or three-quarters of a mile wide and two miles or 

 more in length. Much of its area is covered with a pure stand of a small black 

 spruce, some parts with an equally pure stand of tamarack, but in places these 

 two species are more or less mixed together. The pitcher plant and the sundew 

 thrive here, as do the buckbean and the wild calla, the coral root, the moccasin 

 flower, and that rare and gorgeous orchid, the dragon's mouth (Aretliusn 

 lulhosa). * * * 



The spot chosen for the nesting site was a little opening among the black 

 spruce trees, not more than 30 yards from the margin of the swamp. A luxuriant 

 growth of sphagnum covered the ground everywhere to a depth of several inches. 

 The nest was a rather deep, rounded cup, compact and well made. Inside It 

 measured an inch and a half in depth, and two inches in width. The wall of 

 the nest was approximately half an inch in thickness, and was composed entirely 

 of fine dry grasses, except for a few black plant fibers resembling horse hairs, 

 woven into the lining of the bottom. It was sunken in a mossy mound, the top 

 of the nest being level with the top of the moss. Labrador tea and swamp laurel, 

 low bog shrubs that formed a dense tangle throughout the little opening, over- 

 topped the moss by a foot or more and offered ample protection for the otherwise 

 open nest. 



Eggs. — Four or five eggs make up the usual set for the Connecticut 

 warbler. The eight eggs in the Thayer collection in Cambridge are 

 ovate and have a slight gloss. The creamy white ground color is 

 speckled, spotted and blotched with "auburn," "bay," and "chestnut," 

 with underlying spots of "brownish drab," "light vinaceous drab," and 

 "light Quaker drab." They seem, generally, to be more boldly marked 



