150 



THE OOLOaiST 



though the bird returned to the nest 

 several times during the time I was 

 watching, 1 was never able to catch 

 sight of it owing to the thickness of 

 the surrounding scrub, the same thing 

 happening when I attempted to flush 

 it from the nest, she always managed 

 to slip away without giving me a 

 chance of identification. The only 

 birds that apparently showed any con- 

 cern, were a pair of Alder Flycatchers 

 and as the eggs though slightly larger 

 than the general run of that species, 

 were very similar to one type of egg 

 that I have found and I was beginning 

 to think that I must ascribe the nest 

 to them, which was disappointing as 

 they are fairly common here. 



However, in spite of the mosquitoes 

 which made watching anything but 

 pleasant, I decided to persevere and 

 ensconcing myself in the center of a 

 bush close by, determined to satisfy 

 myself beyond doubt. 



Fortunately I had not long to wait, 

 for in about fifteen minutes I was re- 

 warded by the sight of a male Mourn- 

 ing Warbler flying into some dead 

 branches about six feet above the nest 

 where he was in full view for several 

 minutes, the black on the breast be- 

 ing very conspicuous. A movement on 

 my part, however, made him aware 

 of my presence and at the sound of his 

 alarm note, the female flew straight 

 off the nest and joined him and for 

 the space of half a minute. I had a 

 clear view of the two of them to- 

 gether after which they flew down in- 

 to some bushes a short distance away. 



I then made a thorough examination 

 of the nest and eggs. The nest was in 

 a small haze bush growing in a tangle 

 of briers and well hidden, it was about 

 two feet from the ground and while not 

 actually in a fork was attached to the 

 side of one by some kind of plant 

 down. It was composed entirely of 

 broad flat grasses on the outside and 



lined with fine grasses, but contrary 

 to any accounts of the nest I have 

 read, there was no sign of either hair 

 or rootlets in the lining. 



The eggs, four in number, and con- 

 siderably incubated, agreed exactly 

 with the description given in Chap- 

 man's Warblers of North America, as 

 to markings, and were of the type 

 shown under figure 103 of that work, 

 the ground color, however, was not 

 pure white, it having a distinct brown- 

 ish tinge even after they were blown. 

 The identification, however, was be- 

 yond doubt but in order to further 

 sat: ;fy myself I thoroughly searched 

 the vicinity and succeeded in finding 

 and identifying the nest of the Alder 

 Flycatcher a short distance away. 

 L. S. Dear, 

 Fort William, Ontario. 



A TREE OF MYSTERY 



While on a fishing trip this summer 

 I was attracted to an over hanging 

 elm tree near the river. Birds of all 

 kinds would go to that tree and make 

 all kinds of rackets, then fly away and 

 come back again. This racket kept up 

 until it attracted a large number of 

 birds from all parts of the woods. I 

 went over and sat down to see if I 

 could find out all the excitement. I 

 watched for thirty minutes but could 

 see nothing but birds. First a Chicka- 

 dee would fly at a certain part of the 

 tree and let out a long line of bird 

 talk, then came a Cardinal, a Wren, a 

 Flicker and so on until the tree was a 

 tree of music. Each bird seemed to 

 understand the trouble but I could not 

 eee a thing or make out what the 

 trouble was. I got as close to the 

 tree as I could and circled it three 

 times, but yet could see nothing. A 

 Chickadee got a little game and pecked 

 the unobserved thing that they were 



