238 BULLETIN 20 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The 1931 A. O. U. Check-List gives the breeding range of caimsi as 

 from Maryland to Georgia, but no definite line can be drawn ; birds 

 from southern Pennsylvania and Maryland, and perhaps the Vir- 

 ginias, are variably intermediate in their characters, and specimens 

 can be found that are referable to either one or the other form. 



Before this race had been separated from the northern form. Cairns 

 (1896) wrote of its haunts : 



High up on the heavily timbered mountain ranges of western North Carolina 

 is the summer home of the Black-throated Blue Warbler. 



Here in precipitous ravines, amid tangled vines and moss-covered logs, where 

 the sun's rays never penetrate the rank vegetation and the air is always cool, 

 dwells the happy little creature, filling the woods from dawn to twilight with 

 its song. * * * 



These birds are a local race ; breeding from one generation to another. They 

 arrive from the south nearly ten days earlier than those that pass through the 

 valleys on their northward migration. It is common to observe migrants through 

 the valleys while breeders on the higher mountains are already nest-building 

 and rearing their young. 



This statement agrees with Professor Cooke's (1904) later data, 

 and with his statement : "The species is one of the few that appear in 

 the mountains earlier than on the plains, and the case seems to sustain 

 the theory that the individuals of a species that breed farthest south 

 are the first to migrate in the spring." 



Nesting. — Cairns (1896) writes on this subject : 



Nesting begins in May and continues until the end of June. The nests are 

 placed in various shrubs, such as laurel, wild gooseberry, and chestnut, but the 

 blue cohosh or papoose-root (Caulophyllum thalictroides) seems to be the 

 favorite. These thick weeds grow rapidly to a height of from three to five feet, 

 entirely hiding the ground, and thus afford the birds considerable protec- 

 tion. * * * The nests are never placed over three feet from the ground ; 

 usually about eighteen inches ; one I examined was only six inches. * • * 



The nests show little variation in their construction, though some are more 

 substantially built than others. Exteriorly they are composed of rhododendron 

 or grai)e-vine bark, interwoven with birch-bark, moss, spider-webs, and occa- 

 sionally bits of rotten wood. The interior is neatly lined with hair-like moss, 

 resembling fine black roots, mixed with a few sprays of bright red moss, forming 

 a strikingly beautiful contrast to the pearly eggs. The female gathers all the 

 materials, and builds rapidly, usually completing a nest in from four to six days 

 if the weather is favorable. She is usually accompanied by the male, which, 

 however, does not assist her in any way. 



Bruce P. Tyler of Johnson City, Tenn., has sent me some fine photo- 

 graphs (pi. 31) of the nests of this warbler, and says in his notes: 

 "The Cairns warbler is found breeding in May, and later, on the south- 

 erly slope of Beech Mountain, just across the Tennessee line in North 

 Carolina, at an elevation of 4,800 to 5,200 feet above sea level. The 

 nest is built in small upright saplings or sprouts, 3 to 4 feet above 

 the ground, and is constructed of shredded bark from the dying chest- 



