660 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



J. Claire Wood (1904) reports finding a nest in Wayne County, Mich., 

 that was partly sunken into the ground at the base of a gooseberry bush 

 between two logs, a very unusual situation. Verdi Burtch has sent us 

 a photograph of a redstart's nest, found near Branchport, N. Y., May 

 31, 1929, that was built in the forks of a bush only a few inches above 

 the ground. Richard C. Harlow reported that he found a nest at 

 Tabusintac, New Brunswick, June 26, 1919, that was 20 inches above the 

 ground ; it straddled and was near the tip of the horizontal limb of a 

 spruce standing on the edge of a bog in rather open woods. On June 

 25, 1927, at Squam Lake, N. H., Arthur C. Bent found a nest 

 5 feet up in the fork of a dead branch that had fallen and was leaning 

 upright against a striped maple sapling. At Brunswick, Maine, I 

 discovered a nest held by a thick cluster of branches growing upward 

 from the side of the main trunk of a large elm tree more than 2 feet in 

 diameter at the base. This nest was not less than 30 feet from the 

 ground. Nests placed in crotches formed by limbs branching from the 

 main trunk of large trees are not rare. J. Claire Wood (1904) also 

 reports an extreme case of a redstart's nest built 70 feet above the 

 ground in a large oak tree. 



The redstart may also choose a small shrub or bush for its nesting 

 place. A. C. Bent found a nest with three eggs, at Squam Lake, N. H., 

 built in a small mountain laurel among a large clump growing in deep 

 woods. The nest was not over 2 feet above the ground, a situation 

 often selected by the black-throated blue warbler. 



In June 1942 a pair of redstarts built their nest in a lilac shrub next 

 to a house on Boody Street, Brunswick, Maine, It was saddled in a 

 cluster of branches about 5 feet above the ground and was only a foot 

 from a front window. Pedestrians frequently passing by on a walk 

 only a few feet distant did not seem to disturb the birds in the least, 

 and the birds even allowed me to take motion pictures of them as I 

 stood only 4 feet away, completely exposed to view. During the same 

 month another pair occupied a mockorange bush gi'owing in 

 the yard of a home only a short distance from this nest. Their nest 

 rested on a horizontal branch about an inch in diameter and was se- 

 curely anchored by three small upright branches. M. B. Trautman 

 (1940) found six nests of the redstart in the Buckeye Lake region, 

 Ohio, all in grapevine tangles 10 to 20 feet above the ground. J. 

 Claire Wood (1904) describes an interesting nest in a grapevine in 

 Wayne County, Mich., as follows : "This vine reached downward about 

 ten feet from the first limb of a large oak tree and thence upward to 

 within a foot of the starting point, forming a swing, and at the bot- 

 tom of the loop the nest was placed. It was a windy day and the 

 nest swung over a space of five feet, but madam clung to her treas- 

 ures perfectly unconcerned." 



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