66 



THE OOLOGIST 



nesting material. It was then up to 

 nie to Keep them in sight until they 

 reached the nest. 



By watching one place so much I 

 discovered that a great many more 

 birds nested in a favorable locality 

 than I had any idea of. 



Roaming about and looking at ran- 

 dom I soon found produced no Ceru- 

 lean nests, and with one exception, 

 all that I found were discovered by 

 watching the females. This one ex- 

 ception was on a limb two inches in 

 diameter of a big oak. The nest was 

 built amongst a couple of little 

 sprigs that grew up and because of 

 the leaves could be seen from only 

 one spot on the ground. I passed 

 this tree so often that once I happen- 

 ed to glance up while in just the right 

 place. 



The females built their nests alone, 

 in no case did the male help, although 

 often he accompanied her to and fro. 



The nesting material was always 

 procured on or near the ground. One 

 female Cerulean that I saw gathering 

 nesting material, I followed up and 

 found to have just started a nest 

 forty feet up and seven feet from the 

 trunk in a big oak, on a limb two 

 inches in diameter. This was on the 

 morning of May 13th. On the 19th 

 she finished the nest, taking seven 

 days to do the work. On the 26th the 

 female began to incubate a set of four. 

 Altogether I found twelve nests, six 

 in one season. 



Six of these nests I have data for 

 showing height and distance from the 

 trunk. Of these six one was in a 

 maple forty feet up and twelve feet 

 out on a limb one and one-half inches 

 in diameter. The other five were in 

 oaks which is the tree preferred in 

 that region. These five were as fol- 

 lows: 



30 feet up, 5 feet out on a 2 in. limb 

 40 feet up, 10 feet out on a 2 in. limb 



40 feet up, 7 feet out on a 2 in. limb 

 45 feet up, 6 feet out on a 3 in. limb 

 40 feet up, 9 feet out on a l^/^ in. limb 



They were always built on top of 

 a horizontal limb at a point where a 

 branch started out or where several 

 sprigs put cut to give the female a 

 chance to fasten the nest securely. 

 The nests are small and neat. A typi- 

 cal one measures three and one-fourth 

 in diameter and one and one-half 

 inches deep. 



The material used is shreds and 

 strips of inner bark, shreds of weeds, 

 fine strips of grape vine bark, and veg- 

 etable material, and in one case a 

 few small pieces of a newspaper that 

 I had thrown away were used. The 

 lining was fine shreds of bark, some- 

 times hair and frequently fine grasses. 



The eggs greatly resemble the eggs 

 of the Yellow warbler, being of a 

 greenish ground color, and well spot- 

 ted with browns and purple, principal- 

 ly in the form of a wreath about the 

 larger end. 



To collect the nest and eggs I cut 

 two long light poles. At the small 

 end of one I left a fork on which I 

 fastened a paper shoe box filled with-- 

 cotton. On the end of the other I 

 fastened a little forked stick with the 

 tip pointing back. By holding the box 

 out under the nest and carefully pull- 

 ing the nest over, I landed all safely. 

 Also used the same outfit for Gnatcat- 

 chers and Hummers. Here at home 

 I use the same rigging for warblers 

 and others that are out of reach. 



R. B. SIMPSON. 



We are in erceipt of a communica- 

 tion to the effect that one of our sub- 

 scribers has "indisputable scientific 

 proof enough at my command to down 

 the combined efforts of all the authori- 

 ties and ornithological societies of 

 America." He must be well equipped 

 with ammunition! 



