64 



THE OSPREY. 



Nesting Habits of the Black^'throated Green Warbler, 



BY J. H. BOWLES. 



Jo 



T^ EAUTIFUL little Dcndroica v/rciis, 



~ in parts of eastern Massachusetts, 

 is probably the most plentiful of 

 all our Warblers, even the well-known 

 Yellow Warbler ( Dcndroica acstiva ) being- 

 oblig-ed to content itself with second 

 place. Unless one searches for it care- 

 fully, it would probably escape almost 

 unnoticed during- the breeding- season, as 

 it is then chiefly 

 c o n fi. n e d to the 

 tall pines and 

 thick cedar g-roves. 

 The son^, which 

 is continued from 

 their first appear- 

 ance late in April 

 until long- after 

 the breeding- sea- 

 son, is low and 

 sleepy, but ver}- 

 distincth' articu- 

 lated and easily 

 recog-nized after 

 being- once heard. 



Like many other 

 birds, more so 

 than any others I 

 have studied, it 

 has a marked affec- 

 tion for a certain 

 locality, often con- 



tinino- Itself to one makbled murkelet (from life,) 



tree So much is Photographed by Geo. C. Cantwell, Juneau, Alaska. 

 this the case that, thoug-h repeatedly 

 disturbed, it continues to build its nest 

 year after year in the same tree and some- 

 times on the same branch. 



Asa location for its nest, there is hardly 

 a place (except in the water) that these 

 birds have not been known to select, one 

 pair having- chosen a clump of ferns as 

 cong-enial surrounding-s for the nest, which 

 was placed on or very close to the g-round. 

 It is unnecessary to add that such a loca- 

 tion is excessively unusual, the nest being- 

 usually placed from twenty to forty feet 

 up in a cedar or pine tree ( sometimes 

 still hig-her), thoug-h birches, oaks and 

 other deciduous trees are frequently used. 



Nest building- is often commenced as 

 early as the third week of May, and is 

 continued pretty well throug-h the month 

 of June. All the nests that I have seen 



from Massachusetts were very frail struc- 

 tures, having- very thin walls and base, 

 and being- composed of fine dried g-rass, 

 rootlets, string-, etc., and lined almost 

 invariably with horsehair and feathers. 

 On the other hand, those found by my- 

 self in Northern New Eng-land were 

 strong-, bulky structures of the same ma- 

 terial with the addition of numerous 



hemlock twig-s. 

 The lining-, con- 

 sisting- of horse 

 hair, line black 

 rootlets and and 

 feathers, while the 

 outside is trimmed 

 with the outer 

 bark of the white 

 birch, which adds 

 so much beauty to 

 many of the nests 

 of our Northern 

 birds. 



Unless robbed, or 

 similarly dis- 

 turbed, I believe 

 that but one set 

 of eg-g-s is laid 

 during- the season. 

 This is completed 

 in the latter part 

 of May or early 

 in June, as a rule, 

 and if one wishes 

 fresh eg-g-s it is well to search pretty 

 t h o r o u g- h 1 y before June 1st. The 

 number of eg-g-s to a set varies from 

 three to five, thoug-h three is usual 

 and five extremely rare, one mig-ht 

 say accidental. Their chief characteris- 

 tic is a decided pinkish ting-e, which is 

 but little effected by the eg-g* being- either 

 blown or incubated, also they are more 

 nearly g-lobular than the eg-g-s of the 

 majority of our other Warblers, excepting- 

 those of a few species with which it would 

 not be easily confounded. The g-round 

 color is a creamy pinkish-white, spotted 

 more or less thickly over the entire sur- 

 fade with dots, rarely splotches, of redish- 

 brown and purple, varying- in size from 

 that of a pin's point to twice the size of 

 its head. A distinct ring- is usually 

 formed around the larg-er end where most 



