June 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



89 



A Glimpse of the Nashville Warbler. 



When one lias spent a busy day afield with 

 noisy Loon and screaming Hawk, and is weary 

 with rowing and toiling amid wilderness and 

 brake; where oaks, deep furrowed, lift their 

 gray columns up through tangled aspen and 

 prickly ash; where shadows fall dreamily on 

 fern and mossy log; or where rippling waves 

 lap in and out among rocks and twisted 

 tree roots; the camp on the brook side, nestling 

 under the fir trees, have a charm which none 

 but those having tried it know. 



Back from one of those charming wooded 

 lakes in Northern Minnesota I have often 

 pitched my little tent near a cool brook that 

 wound about through a larch swamp, and 

 here have I spent many a day studying the 

 birds which swarm to these sheltering soli- 

 tudes. 



One crisp, bright morning in late May, just 

 at sunrise, I walked ovit to the centre of the 

 marsh, concealing myself under cover of low 

 drooping boughs of the black fir. Dainty 

 spider webs were thrown about from branches 

 of larch bushes and dwarf junipers, some far 

 up in t:ill trees and more that bung close to 

 the ground, over orchids and sedges, and 

 when the first slant sunbeams played upon the 

 scene each web seemed a fabric of gems, for 

 the heavy dew of the morning was gently 

 agitated by a light breeze, and each separate 

 drop gle'imed forth a changing flame of light, 

 and while the sweet chorus of bird voices rose 

 and fell from tree top and lowly Kpliarinwn. I 

 felt the thrill of nature which enters so largely 

 into the joys of the student afield. 



In such surroundings the Nashville Warbler 

 {Hclininthopliila riiflcapiUa) is well at home. 

 The fjuiet little migrant seen hopping about 

 in weeds and bushes is greatly changed here. 

 The male is an energetic fellow and when not 

 in pursuit of food or an intruder he may be 

 seen at the top of some dry shrub, twitter- 

 ing merrily. While the female is more retir- 

 ing in habit she is ever busy with her own 

 affairs. 



Their manner of procuring food is interest- 

 ing. One will fly to the foot of a fir tree or 

 other conifer and begin an upward search, 

 hopping energetically from branch to branch 

 until the very highest point is reached, when 

 the bird drops lightly down to the foot of 

 another tree, much as does the Brown Creeper. 

 When an insect is discovered the bird secures 

 it by a sudden bound, and. slu)uld the object 

 be not easily dislodged, Ilcliiiinthophila sus- 



tains himself on flapping wings until his pur- 

 pose is accomplished, which often requires 

 several moments. 



Usually nesting begins about May 10th. 

 Fresh eggs might be expected from the loth to 

 the 30th. Localities chosen for the nests I have 

 found have uniformly been in the side of 

 spha(/)iHM tus.socks, and well sunken out of 

 sigiit from above, so that one must stoop to 

 look into them. When flushed from its nest 

 the female glides away among the weeds and 

 flies to an elevated place where she is joined 

 by the male, when both of them keep hopping 

 from twig to twig uttering a sharp, metallic 

 chip, thus diverting attention from their nest. 



For descriptions of nests and eggs I copy 

 from journal notes. My first set of eggs was 

 found June 15, 1885, too much incubated 

 for preservation. The frail structure, com- 

 posed of soft stems of a slender jiincus, was 

 very neatly placed in a cavity well back in the 

 soft moss and entirely hidden from view. The 

 bird fluttered from the place, discovering to me 

 the nest. 



The four eggs were a dull white, faintly 

 rosy-tinged, sprinkled with minute brown 

 points, closer at the larger ends. A second 

 nest was taken May 30, 1880, from a location 

 similar to the last. The outer wall was of soft 

 jiinciix stems, but this was completely con- 

 cealed by a heavy lining of deer's hair, so laid 

 that the root ends projected into the nest 

 giving it a pearly appearance. ('I'his material 

 I have found in but few nests.) The measure- 

 ments were: Inside diameter 1% inches, out- 

 side diameter i'/i inches; inside depth 1% inches 

 by 2-% inches outside; thus making a well- 

 rounded, delicate nest, placed deep in soft 

 moss in the side of asphaynum tussock under 

 the much leaning stem of a small juniper 

 bush. The five eggs were very like the laSt 

 with a clearer background; shells tender and 

 very thin. Incubation begun. 



The third set taken May :!0, 1887, bad a nest 

 of finest jiuicu.f, lined with much deer's hair, 

 jjressed into the overhanging side of a tussock; 

 eggs, five, much incubated and consequently 

 dark clouded, sprinkled with minute brown 

 points. 



The fourth set was found June 3, 1887. A 

 pair of the birds seemed disturbed by my 

 presence, and from the top of a small tree 

 they keep up a continual "chipping," and 

 their actions indicated that a nest was near, so 

 I concealed myself in a fringe of dense under- 

 growth near by. After some delay they flew 

 to a certain tract of spliagmim and were silent. 



