38 



OE^N^ITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 14-No, 3 



lining of small black rootlets as are ever seen 

 in a Kentucky Warbler' s nest. However, these 

 are exceptional, as the nest is usually con- 

 structed as above stated. 



The entire work of building, so far as I am 

 able to judge, is done by the female bird, her 

 male aiding her only by a continual and vigor- 

 ous song and occasionally — but very seldom — 

 by bringing a small bill full of material and 

 leaving it on the outside of the hole, for her to 

 carry in and arrange. 



The situation of the cavity is something they 

 seem to care little about, only that it must be 

 near the ground, or water, rather. So far as 

 my observation goes they very rarely use a 

 hole higher than fifteen feet, and far oftener 

 lower than five, than above ten. Sometimes, 

 however, they ascend as high as twenty-five 

 feet. As for concealment tliey seem to care 

 little or nothing, as I have frequently found 

 their nests where I could stand in my boat and 

 see the bird on her nest twenty to fifty yards 

 off — the cavity being shallow; and 1 have 

 many times found them sitting on a nest tliat 

 was not over three inclies above the water, in 

 the end of a broken leaning snag, and the bird, 

 eggs, and nest all wet with the splash of tlie 

 small waves. 



Many of the little fellows lose their nests by 

 this love of building low down, as sometimes 

 the river rises after they have a nest of young 

 birds, and drowns them out. At such times 

 their distress- is pitiful. 



Usvially about a week elapses between the 

 time they select a nesting site, and the begin- 

 ning of building. This usually takes about 

 ten days, and fresh eggs are found here from 

 about May 17th to June 15th, as tlie extreme 

 dates shown by my journal. 



The number of eggs varies from three to 

 seven, although I have always believed both 

 were not the real number laid by one bird. I 

 have very seldom found three to be a full set, 

 and then believed that the bird had been dis- 

 turbed, and out of several hundred of these 

 nests examined by me I have never found but 

 three sets of seven, and, as stated above, I do 

 not believe they were all laid by one bird, but I 

 found that belief on the scarceness of such 

 sets rather than on any tangible evidence. 



The usual number of eggs found in a set is 

 five or six in abovit the proportion of two of 

 five to one of six. 



The eggs are strikingly handsome, and pre- 

 sent a very great variety of size, color, and 

 markings. To my eye they are among the 

 most beautiful examples of our American eggs. 



particularly when fresh, when they present the 

 pink cast of shell so common to birds' eggs, 

 and which is lost on blowing them. They vary 

 from a light background, almost obscured by 

 lavender, reddish-brown, purple and black 

 spots, and blotches, giving the egg something 

 of a chocolate cast at a distance, to a i^ure 

 white shell sparsely but bSldly spotted with 

 the above colors, and occasictnally a yellowish 

 phase is taken, which is very rare. Once I 

 took a white set. 



The shell is strong, hard, smooth, and with 

 something of the gloss of a woodpecker's egg. 

 Once in a while a person will find a set of their 

 eggs tliat has the shell rough and calcarous. 

 This is something that to my mind is, as yet, 

 unsatisfactorily explained. 



The size of these eggs is given by the books 

 as .70X..52, and is approximately correct. Yet 

 they vary greatly, and I have taken eggs that 

 would vary from these figures both larger and 

 smaller fully .10 of an inch, and I have in my 

 collection one "runt" egg of this species that 

 is not much larger than a pea. It measures 

 .48x.40. The other four eggs in this set aver- 

 age .73 x. 55. The "little fellow" is in every 

 way as perfectly marked and formed as any of 

 its larger brothers. 



Incubation lasts about two weeks and is en- 

 tirely performed by the female bird, but after 

 tlie young are hatched the male turns in and 

 lielps to feed the family. This is about the 

 only work I know of his doing. Their food 

 consists mainly of the small insects found in 

 the swamps, and the old birds rarely go far 

 from their home until the young are able to 

 fiy, when they hunt in families for some time, 

 and usually leave us for the South about Sep- 

 tember 1st, and we have seen the last of our 

 golden-colored little friends vmtil the next 

 season. 



R. M. Barne.s. 



Lacon, Illinoi-s. 



[The experience of Mr. Barnes resjjecting 

 the number of eggs laid by this bird is differ- 

 ent from that of a collector near Burlington, 

 Iowa. Out of forty-two sets collected by him 

 only one set consisted of five eggs, and one set 

 four eggs; while twenty-three sets had six 

 eggs each, fifteen sets contained seven eggs 

 each, and one extreme set consisted of eight. 

 The set of four eggs also had four of the Cow- 

 bird, the set of five had three of the same para- 

 site, while eleven of the sets of six each had 

 one Cowbird's egg, and four of the sets of 

 seven also had one each of the same pest. 



A series of sixty-six sets of eggs of this 



