628 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



region. The undergrowth is mostly Laborador tea and blueberry 

 plants. Along the sides of this delightful barren are extensive open 

 runs of alder, birch, and other mixed small timber, with many 

 beautiful mounds interspersed. This region is the home of Wilson's 

 warbler, and the bird is not only abundant in this bog, but throughout 

 the entire County of Matane. I use the word 'friendship' advisedly 

 in the case of the Wilson's because it is a confiding little bird, entirely 

 lacking in fear during the nesting season. Should a warbler be flushed 

 from a nest and you are in doubt as to its identity, wait a few seconds, 

 and if it be a Wilson's, the bird will immediately return and exhibit 

 a mild curiosity and a look of inquiry, flitting about noiselessly, and 

 probably will enter the nest while the intruder is standing near by. 

 I have never seen this warbler fail to return at once to its nest after 

 being flushed. This action is characteristic and quite contrary to 

 that of Nashville and Tennessee warblers. 



"At the end of June, 1930, 1 flushed a Wilson's warbler from a nest 

 in a hummock well-sheltered by a thick bunch of Labrador tea, and 

 near a fringe of alders. The nest contained five young a few days old. 

 I sat down 3 feet from the nest for 2 hours, with an old hat on my 

 head. The bird, returning with insects, perched on my hat, then on 

 my shoulder, and into the nest. This happened 20 times while I was 

 anchored at the nest. The bird was fearless and tame and no doubt 

 took it for granted that I was going to be a part of the landscape. 

 Each time, on leaving the nest, she flew directly away. I did not 

 see the male bird, but I heard him singing as he patrolled along the 

 fringe of alders. I have found a nest of Wilson's warblers in this 

 same mound every season for the past 10 years and I believe they 

 become attached to old haunts. While I have been shufiling about 

 with my camera and tripod, the birds are either perched on the camera 

 and its base or are in the nest, sitting. This applies to most of the 

 nests which I have observed. 



"The majority of nests are sunk in moss at the base of alders or 

 tamarack saplings at the edge of second growth. They are well hid- 

 den, and the bird sits close until almost trodden upon. They are 

 sociable little birds with their own kind ; three or four pairs may nest 

 near together in a line of alders not over 75 yards long. The nests 

 are simple affairs composed inside and out of a compact mass of fine, 

 bleached grasses. After the young are hatched the male is often seen 

 at the nest ; before this time he patrols the alders, feeding and singing 

 in a lazy way, with an occasional long flight to feed the sitting bird." 



Of the occurrence of Wilson's warbler as a breeding bird in Maine, 

 Knight (1908) says: 



That the species breeds frequently in the Canadian life areas of northern and 

 central Maine seems well established, and that it has not been more often dis- 



