EASTERN MYRTLE WARBLER 243 



some country dwelling or in an orchard. In the vast majority of 

 cases an evergreen tree is selected as a nesting site, though occasionally 

 some hardwood tree, such as maple, apple or birch, may be taken. A 

 majority of nests seem to be placed in cedar trees, with fir and spruce 

 following as close second choices." 



Forbush (1929) mentions two Massachusetts nests in tall white 

 pines. A nest studied by Mrs. Nice (1930a), at Pelham, Mass., was 

 "six feet up in a small red cedar on a branch next to the trunk. It 

 was a rather shallow affair, composed of cedar twigs and bark, plant 

 fibers, a piece of string and pine needles, and was lined with a few 

 horse hairs and many Ruffed Grouse feathers." 



Dr. Paul Harrington has sent me his notes based on the study of 44 

 nests of the myrtle warbler in Simcoe County, Ontario. He says that 

 the white pine is generally chosen as a nesting tree, the nests being 

 placed from 6 to 40 feet up, averaging 15 feet ; "28 nests were built on 

 horizontal limbs about two-thirds out from the trunk, but none at the 

 outermost end. They were conspicuous from below but not from 

 above, as clumps of needles overhung them in such a way as to afford 

 good protection." Of the remainder, 2 were built in the top clump 

 of needles in young trees ; 5 were in small spruces, the low^est 3 feet, 

 the highest 15, and all on horizontal limbs, 3 near the trunk and 2 half- 

 way out on the limb; 5 were about 15 feet up in crotches of small 

 cedars ; 3 were found in red pines, in the outermost clumps of needles 

 10 to 15 feet from the ground; and 1 nest was 6 feet up in a small 

 balsam. He says that the nest is lined thickly with feathers and a few 

 hairs. "The feathers are so placed that, as well as lining the nest, 

 they form a screen over the inside when the bird is not sitting. This 

 is done by the shafts of the feathers being woven or imbedded into 

 the inside of the nest and the vane lying free." At Petawa he found 

 these birds nesting in small jack pines. 



Dr. F. A. E. Starr, in his notes from northern Ontario, also says 

 that any conifers are suitable nesting sites: "I have found only one 

 exception to the use of a conifer. This nest was built in a hawthorn, 

 and when I collected the nest, the birds moved to a cedar." A. D. 

 Henderson writes to me : "The myrtle warbler is a fairly numerous 

 summer resident at Belvedere, Alberta, and in the Fort Assiniboine 

 District. It nests mainly in the muskegs in tamarack and spruce trees, 

 but occasionally in deciduous trees close to a muskeg." The nests are 

 mostly from 10 to 15 feet up. One nest was in a jack pine, "in a bunchy 

 growth at the end of a limb." Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) 

 state that MacFarlane found nests on the ground in the Anderson 

 River region. 



Eggs. — Most observers agree that four or five eggs form the usual 

 set for the myrtle warbler. Tufts (MS.) says that "five eggs are more 



