214 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Since that time Cape May Warblers have been not uncommon transients in 

 certain years, and they have never been as rare as they formerly were. In 

 migration they may be found in trees and shrubberj^ about dwellings and along 

 village streets almost as commonly as in woods or in swampy thickets, where 

 at this season they find many insects. Occasionally a few may be seen in 

 blossoming orchards. 



Courtship. — Information on the courtship behavior of the wood 

 warblers is so scanty that it seems worthwhile to include two small 

 items on this subject for the Cape May warbler. While watching a 

 pair at their nest-building, Dr. Merriam (1917) observed that "on 

 June 11 the male was seen to chase the female. The next day nest 

 building was apparently complete. An hour's watching on the 13th 

 also failed to show any further nest construction, although the female 

 was frequently heard in the low growth. Once she flew ten feet up in 

 a spruce and gave a peculiar note at the same time lifting her tail. 

 Immediately the male flew down and copulation took place. The 

 whole proceeding resembled very itiuch that of the Chipping Spar- 

 row." James Bond (1937) noted at times that, "when the female 

 was working on the nest, the male would fly with rigid wings just 

 above her. This was a characteristic courting display, noted with 

 other individuals." 



Nesting. — The Cape May warbler seeks for its summer home the 

 country of the pointed firs and spruces that tower like tapering church 

 spires in the Canadian Life Zone of our northern border and in Canada. 

 It seems to prefer an open, parklike stand of these noble trees rather 

 than the denser coniferous forests, though it often finds a congenial 

 home along the borders of the forests or in the more open spaces 

 within them, especially where there is a mixture of tall white or yellow 

 birches, or a few hemlocks. Its breeding range follows the Canadian 

 Zone rather closely, as along the cool coastline of eastern Maine. 

 James Bond writes to me of its interesting distribution in that state : 

 "In the eastern half of the state it is found mainly along the coast, as 

 far south as Hog Island, Knox County. It ranges across Maine 

 through Washington, Aroostook and northern Penobscot Counties, but 

 is a rare species in the interior, and is unknown in summer from the 

 Bangor and Lincoln sections of Penobscot County. I found it most 

 abundant in southern Mount Desert Island in the vicinity of Ship 

 Harbor. Here several pairs nest every year in the cool, often fog- 

 drenched woods, although I have found but one nest." 



The first published report of the nesting of the Cape May warbler 

 was perhaps based on an error in identification. Montague Chamber- 

 lain (1885) reported that his friend James W. Banks found a nest 

 apparently "just outside the city limits" of Saint John, New Bruns- 

 wick ; he states that it "was hid among a cluster of low cedars growing 

 in an exposed position, on a rather open hill-side, near a gentleman's 



